English Translation School Feeding Focus Groups (as they occurred)
This post contains English translations for 16 focus groups conducted between summer of 2016 and the fall of 2017. The specific focus groups are listed below. To go directly to focus group, use the search tool with the specified focus group number. For example, if you want to got to the Focus Group #5: All Male Farmers (Salaniac 2), open the search box and type, “Focus Group #5”.
List of all Focus Groups
Focus Group #1: Female School Yard Merchants [Petit Riviere (Dipi)]
Focus Group #2: Rice Farmers (Kawouk)
Focus Group #3: Rural Parents and Members of Kitchen Committee (Cholèt)
Focus Group # 4: School Directors and Teachers
Focus Group #5: All Male Farmers (Salaniac 2)
Focus Group #6: Parents of Rural School Children (Fondelyann)
Focus Group #7: Members of Rural School Kitchen Commitees
Focus Group #8: Association Leaders (Nan Chantrel/Petit Rivye)
Focus Group #9: All Male, Farmers (Salagnac 1)
Focus Group #10: Children in Cholette
Focus Group #11: Children in Dupuy
Focus Group #12: Market Women/Traders (Ti Rivye)
Focus Group #13: All Male Farmers (Tamarin)
Focus Group #14: School Canteen Supervisors, Before
Focus Group #15: School Canteen Supervisors, After
Focus Group #16: Traders in Dupuy
Focus Group #1: Female School Yard Merchants who are also Parents of Town School Children [Petit Riviere (Dipi)]
Date focus group: 03/26/2017
Date transcript: 04/04 / 2017- 20/04/2017
Interviewers
Almathe Jean: Female, 28 years of age, 0 children, Focus Group supervisor.
Natacha: Female, 28 years of age, no children, focus group leader and surveyor.
Jackly: Male, 33 years of age, 2 children, Survey supervisor and focus group leader.
Participants
#1– Blank_A; female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program
#3- Blank_B; female; 55 years; Farmer; 6th grade 2; 8 children; 2 children in program
#4- Blank_C; female; 37 years; Commerce; No schooling; 5 children; 2 children in program
#6- Blank_D; female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program
#8- Blank_E; female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program
#9- Blank_F; female; 43 years; Commerce; none; 6 children; 3 children in program
FOCUS GROUP TRANSCRIPTION
Socio-Dig (Almathe): Good afternoon ladies!
Public: Hello, hello
Socio-Dig (Almathe): I’m glad you’re with us the afternoon. My name is Almathe Jean. I work with a firm called Socio-Dig… At the moment, we work with WFP which, as you know, is responsible for the school canteens. We are here today to ask you a few questions to find out how you see the canteen. Everything say to us is important. We give each of you a number. And we record what you say. We do this so that we can provide WFP with a report about what parents of children in the program have to say, what you have to say… Because we use the numbers and not your names, this means that you can be at ease with us, you can say anything you like [because no one will know who you are when they read the report]. I have a list of questions. And each person will give his or her points of view. You have the number in your hands. Whenever you begin to talk, just say, ‘number 4 speaks,’ ‘number 5,’ ‘number 2.’ You give your number. You don’t need to say your name. You say your number.
I will let Natacha and Mr. Jackly present themselves. Then each of you may present yourselves. You say. ‘I’m number 9, my name is such and such, I work as … how many children you have in schools with a canteen. Ok?
Socio-Dig (Natacha): Good afternoon!
Public: Good afternoon, good afternoon.
Socio-Dig (Natacha): My name is Natacha. Although some people here already know me, some have never seen me before. Well, we are happy to be with you this afternoon. It is nothing difficult that we are doing. We are here simply to speak with you and to understand each other. We work as a team. I work together with Mrs. Almathe and Jackly. And we will come back and speak to you again another time. OK, so I am pleased to be here with you.
Public: Ok Ok
Socio-Dig (Jackly): Good Afternoon!
Public: Good Afternoon! Good Afternoon!
Socio-Dig (Jackly): My name is Beautelus Jackly. I work with Socio-Dig. At the moment, as we’ve told you, we work with WFP. I am glad to be here to share ideas about the program together, to know how you see it, the advantages, disadvantages.
Socio-Dig: Ok. We begin. Number 8, you may present yourself.
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). My name is Blank_E.
Socio-Dig: What do you do for work?
[Noise of students in the school]
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). My work? I sell in the school yard. I sell, I have a table in front of the school. I sell popsicles. I am trying to survive, you know.
Socio-Dig: Yes, I understand. How many children do you have in the program?
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). I have one grandchild in the program. His name is TI_BLANK.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you. Number 1.
#1– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). My name is Blank_A. I have two children. One is in school here. What I do for a living, I do commerce. I am a trader.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you. Number 6
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). My name is Blank_D. I have 6 children in the school. I have 5 here and I have one in SCHOOL_4. The feeding program helps me a lot. What makes me say that, I do some trading in the yard. It’s not enough to give all my children what they need. If I buy a big pack of cookies for 11 Haitian dollars, I make a single dollar off them. That means 5 Goud for the small packs. I don’t believe that’s enough to give 6 children in school food. I can tell you that the canteen helps me a great, great, great deal. When the children come back from recreation, they get fed right there. The food helps me a great, great deal.
Socio-Dig: Thank you number 6.
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). My name is Blank_C. Ok, so they put the canteen in the school, the canteen is good for me. But if I don’t give them a dollar every day, the children don’t eat. Well me, I almost, their father who is with me, it’s like he’s not really with me. It’s me who has to fight, who has to strike a lick to get them food. When they don’t feed them at school, they’re killing me. They’re really killing me because when they come home from school, I ask God to forgive me because if they have hunger pains it just makes me ill.
#4- (female; 37 years; Commerce; No schooling; 5 children; 2 children in program). My number is 4. My name is Blank_D. I have 5 children, I have four children who are in school, three of them are in a school with a feeding program. Five children and they got no father. Their father died. It’s a little money that I borrowed from the State that has allowed me to manage with those children. I get up in the morning and sometimes I can’t find 5 Gourd to give them for the canteen and they’ll send them home like that. The canteen is useful, when they come home they’ve already eaten. I go and do what I can so that I have some money for them later. I’m telling you [WFP] thank you very much.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#9- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). I am number 9. My name is Blank_F. The canteen is useful to me. The little money I make can’t help those children. I have three children who are in the canteen and I have three who are not in the canteen program. It helps me. Sometimes I get up, if I put a coin in their hands, that coin can’t do anything for them. I’m telling you the canteen helps me a lot. I say thank you for that.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you. We’ve finished with the introductions. Since many of you have already spoken, I’m going to ask a question. When someone wants to respond raise your number and I will say, “number one” or “number two.” And we will give you permission to speak. Since many of you have already spoken about the canteen, for those who have not yet spoken about it, in your opinion, how do you see the school feeding program?
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). Should I stand to give my response?
Socio-Dig: You can sit to respond.
#8– (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). The canteen program is really a good thing. Like I told Natacha before, as soon as children enter the school, it’s enough for them to see the smoke from the kitchen and they get excited. You understand? Eh, like when you were a child, especially me, when my mother had some work to do, like washing clothes for people or ironing for people. As soon as I saw my mother ironing I knew I wasn’t going to be eating anything that day. Now I would start crying. You’re a child who’s a nuisance. Now for her to leave the iron and feed me. It’s the same with children, as soon enter school and they see there is no fire, they’re not happy. Sometimes a parent can give the child a little change. There are children who come to school with three Goud. My God! Calculate what three Goud can do. It can’t do anything. A single piece of hard candy to suck on. And it’s not all hard candies that sell for one Goud. There are those that sell for four and five Goud. The children come and ask me for three little pieces of hard candy. The canteen is useful to mother and father of the child. When children come to school early, especially when the time changes, but as soon as they see it’s 10:00 and the women have already prepared food. There are children who would like to eat two plates of food. The canteen is so useful. That’s why we must say to PAM thank you very much because they have made a dream for us reality. That’s what I had to say.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you very much. Is there anyone who would like to add anything to what the lady just said?
#1– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). For me, I don’t see what more I can say. Because I remember a long time ago when I was at a school in Port-au-Prince called Damocles, they used to give us food, but it was not cooked. We didn’t even make food. Adults didn’t have time to make food. You suffered when you got out of school. They didn’t give you money, long time ago they didn’t give children money when they went to school.
I’m not hiding the fact that we don’t have a single cent. Since I’m still sleeping in the morning, my daughter says to me, ‘mommy, I’m leaving.”
“Yes,” I tell her, “you can go. I’ll bring you 5 Goud during recreation.” I say that because I have hope. When I don’t have it. I know that at recreation she’ll be looking at what other people are eating. But as soon as 10:00 rolls around she’s going to get something to eat no matter what. Sometimes when she comes home she knows that I will have something for her. But when she comes she doesn’t find anything. She lives with me. That’s why she’s so useful to me. After that, I don’t know what else to say. It’s a blessing.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you.
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). I can tell you the last word is for you guys. Thank you, thank you very much. I don’t see anything else I can say.
Socio-Dig: Ok. In your opinion, is the program working well? Or what could make it work even better?
#9- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). It’s working well. The children eat every day. And they eat well.
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). To make it work better, they would have to pay people. They should pay people.
Socio-Dig: Ok. As parents, is there an amount of money that you’re supposed to give the children every day? Is that an amount of money that you give the children every day so that they can buy food?
#9- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). The children are already spoiled. You’ve got to give them 5 Gourd no matter what.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Number three
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). Now, here is how the school director does it. He makes you pay the whole year. He makes you pay 15 dollars (75 Goud) for the entire year.
Socio-Dig: Ok, aren’t there other people who do the same?
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). When you pay that little change, the money is to buy wood and charcoal [to cook the food] and coconut to put in the food. That little bit of money can’t cover the cost of the food.
Socio-Dig: Ok. How much money do you pay?
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). We give 50 Gourd.
Socio-Dig: Every how often?
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). Every month. Because around here there isn’t a lot of money.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). Up top there [on the mountain], we give wood or charcoal.
Socio-Dig: Oh?
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). Sometimes the food comes and there is no cooking oil. They must buy oil. And it’s not food with bouillon cubes (Magey), but you must season it with garlic, you must put in some peppers. Eh, you must give 50 Goud per month so they can do this. And in my way of thinking, eh, there are some things we could add. You know, where you finish eating, you should drink some sugar water. What makes them eat the food? Well, it’s normal, they put the canteen in and they eat the food. But for me, if they would give a little something to make juice for the children it would be a good thing.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Number three, I hear you say that you give wood?
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). Yes, we bring wood, we bring charcoal.
Socio-Dig: How often do you give it?
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). As soon as they’re out of it, we bring more. Three or four of us get together on it. We bring charcoal or wood. Because the director told us this. He called a meeting. We give it. And when we’re finished we bring more.
Socio-Dig: Ok, that means that all the parents participate in this?
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). Yes.
[Noise of a loud motorcycle interrupts]
Socio-Dig: Ok. You guys are telling me that everyone gives. There are people who give 15 dollars (75 Goud), they are people who give 50 Goud.
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). Not in the same school, no.
#1– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). In this school, it’s 10 dollars per month (50 Goud).
Socio-Dig: You give 10 dollars per month? After that, do the children have to give anything more when they get to school?
Public: No, they don’t pay anything more.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Do the children get fed every day?
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). Yes, they eat every day.
Socio-Dig: Each day, what kind of food do they get?
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). They get rice and bean sauce. Rice and beans with vegetables. Great thing!
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). On Wednesday, they feed stew. And like tomorrow, Monday, they will feed rice and bean sauce. If they have vegetables, they make them vegetable mush, rice and bean sauce. Wednesday it’s stew.
Socio-Dig: Ok. That food that the children are eating, is it local food or food that WFP sends?
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). WFP sends it. They send rice, beans, oil. But local food is yam, sweet potatoes, carrots, cabbage, eggplant, militon.
Socio-Dig: Is the rice that WFP gives Haitian?
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). Yes, it’s Haitian rice. In my opinion it’s rice from the Artibonite. Because it’s not rice from some other country [and it’s not from right here].
Socio-Dig: Ok. Is there anyone else who would like to add something?
Public: No.
Socio-Dig: Number 3, I see you were about to say something
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). No, I wasn’t going to say anything.
Socio-Dig: Ok. In your opinion, did the canteen function well last year? Were there days that they did not feed? Did anything happen that they did not get fed?
#4- (female; 37 years; Commerce; No schooling; 5 children; 2 children in program). All the children got fed. It always worked well last year, just like this year.
Socio-Dig: That means that the children always got fed every day?
#4- (female; 37 years; Commerce; No schooling; 5 children; 2 children in program). The children got fed every day.
Socio-Dig: Ok, I’m going to ask a question to each person. I would like everyone to participate. The question is: is there a difference in the children’s performance between when the school did not have a canteen and now. For example, in their school performance? How do you see this?
#1– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). It’s this year that I have a child at school. But before the canteen program I had a nephew who was in school. He wasn’t so interested. But it wasn’t the lack of the canteen that made him not interested. He was more interested in playing. When he got his report card he didn’t pass. One time he made an average of 40 percent. Well, he was going into exams and his father told him, ‘If you don’t pass, as soon as you get home and give me that report card I’m going to take you up the mountain and beat you with a stick. I’m going to beat you to death with that stick.’ When he got his report card he passed. Then along came the canteen. In the morning, his mother would give him 5 Gourd. When his mother would say, she didn’t have money, he would say, ‘aaaa’. Sometimes he would tell his mother, ‘Mama, you can keep the money, I don’t need it. I’ll eat at school.’ He always passed, always first in his class. Now he’s at school in the afternoon [secondary school]. He makes good grades. Well, he knows that school in the afternoon has no canteen. When he comes home from school they feed him. Often, he says, ‘me, my stomach is full.’ (laughs). I tell him, thanks for the canteen. For me, if they end the canteen, I’ll see that as a big problem. Me, the year that happens I’m going to feel bad. It’s me who must beat to make butter. [Contradictions in the original]
Socio-Dig: Ok, thanks number 1. Is there anyone else who would like to share? Between the time that school didn’t have canteens and when they have them now, what difference do you see?
#4- (female; 37 years; Commerce; No schooling; 5 children; 2 children in program). I have two boys. One bigger and one smaller. The smaller one is always more interested in passing. It’s been the same since before there was a canteen right up to when there was a canteen. It’s always been like that. The littler one has always gotten better grades than the bigger one. It’s not that the canteen interests him. It’s like the bigger one is just more susceptible to being corrupted.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Number three?
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). I have two children in school. I had a lot of kids. They’ve already finished school. It’s just the two who are still in school. The little boy, him, he doesn’t want to learn anything at all. Every day he tears up a book. I buy a half dozen double-lined notebooks for him, little notebooks with 10 pages. I don’t know what he does with them. The teacher has not put a pen to any of them a single time to give him a grade. He doesn’t know anything at all. I can try to show him. His brother can show him. He doesn’t learn anything. He’s only interested in playing. So, I went and asked the teacher. The teacher told me that he’s just a child who only cares about goofing off. When the teacher is instructing the other children he’s off playing. He doesn’t want to learn.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). I can tell you that when there was not a canteen, the children, sometimes you heard them complaining of stomachaches. As soon as they got to school their stomachs were aching. What’s wrong is that they were hungry. But since there is a canteen we don’t have that anymore. The children learn very well.
Socio-Dig: It’s cooked and salt-food they give the children. What if they gave the children sweet-food, or a food that wasn’t cooked. Do you think that would have an impact on the children? How would the program work? What would happen if they took the cooked food away and they put something else in its place?
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). I wouldn’t want them to stop giving salt-food meals.
Socio-Dig: You wouldn’t? Why not?
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). No, cooked salt-food is best for children.
Socio-Dig: Why?
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). What makes it better. When you give children sweet-food it will give them worms. If they wake up in the morning and you give them sweet-food, it’s not good for them. Salt-food is better for them. Salt is salt, sweet is sweet. If it was both they gave them, they would give the salt-food in the morning and the salt-food after. But if it’s [only] sweet food, it’s not good for them.
#1– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). For example, if it was sugar clusters they started to give, and they took away the salt-food, I couldn’t participate. The reason is that my daughter always has a stomachache. Often, she has a stomachache. She’s always complaining her stomach hurts. That’s why it would not be good for me. But in every way, in every manner, I don’t believe they’ll take away the salt-food. They’ll keep it!
Public: Laughter
#8– (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). Well now, in the sugar cluster category, there are several types. If it’s the morning, you can’t only give a child a sugar cluster. You can give him a sugar cluster when he goes to school in the morning. You can get up and make a porridge or give him a banana with bread without a problem. But you can’t give something sweet every day. If you give him something, it should be something that really has vitamins.
Socio-Dig: Hummm?
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). Even when it’ something sweet, it gives the child vitamins. But you can’t give something sweet every day. If it’s something you’re feeding in the morning, you must have variety. You can’t give a sugar cluster every day. You understand.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). Because if you give a child something sweet, [you must give something else as well]. You could have 2 eggs you boil and give the child to eat. You put a little salt [in the child], and if the worms have begun to rise, it will settle them. After that, the child could eat a banana, and bread with peanut butter and it might not cause any problems.
But if it’s something sweet you give him every day, it’s going to produce worms in his stomach and he’s going to have a stomachache. And he could be in school and he can’t study, he can’t stand up, his stomach hurts. Sometimes, a long time ago, when we didn’t have a canteen yet, there were children who came to school saying their stomachs hurt. Sometimes it’s not really a stomachache. It’s hunger. The director used to take the children, buy fried dough, and feed them. He paid for it himself. And after that you would see the child running around the school yard, playing during recreation. But now, we don’t have that. Even if the parents haven’t fed the child, when he comes to school, he goes and takes a little fried dough from Madam BLANK_A, and he eats it.
After that, he goes to his class. He sits in his class. But he has hope that come10:00, when recreation is over, they’re going to feed him. But we can’t give them sugar clusters. Even if they changed the food and gave them sugar clusters, they must have something with salt too.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you. And the rest of you, as parents, before you send your children to school in the morning, what do you give them?
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). If it’s a school day, I get up early and I make something salty and give it to them.
Socio-Dig: Like what?
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). Well, a little corn meal. I make a little spaghetti for them.
Socio-Dig: Ok, thank you. Number 9.
#9- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). Sometimes I make soup for them. I have some who don’t need anything. They say give them 5 Goud and when they get to school they’ll eat. They don’t stay home and eat anything.
Socio-Dig: Ok. And you number 4?
#4- (female; 37 years; Commerce; No schooling; 5 children; 2 children in program). Mine, mine aren’t little children. I could get up in the morning and they say, ‘you don’t have to do anything for me. You can give me 10 Goud, 15 Goud, whatever you have. We’re going to see if they have food. If they have food we’ll eat whatever it is.’
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). I have only one little one. The other one is a big girl now. If they’re going to school in the morning they say, ‘Mama, give me a little spaghetti.’ A little spaghetti and she’s gone. Or some corn meal. Whatever I have, they’re not demanding.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#1– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). I don’t make food in the morning. My little girl has a bad habit. She doesn’t want to eat in the morning. Even when I would make food. Even when she was smaller. You get up to make food for her and she’s not going to eat it. She doesn’t like to eat early. I don’t get up and make food for her. I don’t get up early to make food. I give her whatever I have. Whatever I have, I give her. If I don’t have anything, she goes to her grandparent’s yard.
Public: Laughter
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you. In your opinion, as mothers, do you find that the canteen helps you economically? Number 6?
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). How does it help you? If for example you have 6 children. If I give them each 25 Goud. That’s 30 dollars.
Socio-Dig: Yes.
#6: But since they’ve had food at the school, I finish giving them a little food in the morning, I give them each 5 Goud. The rest of the money stays with me.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#6: It’ll stay with me because I won’t spend it all. Because the canteen is useful.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Is there anyone who would add anything in the sense of how the canteen helps you economically?
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). The canteen helps me a lot. In the morning, I have three children, well, I have a little one who won’t take 15 Goud from you in the morning.
Socio-Dig: When there was no canteen?
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). When there wasn’t one… I used to send him to his stepmother’s. ‘Tell your stepmother to give you something.’ I used to send him to the other wife, ‘Tell her to give you something.’ She gives him a cookie and turns her back. Sometimes, he gets food [from the school canteen] and he says, ‘mama, give me a container so I can show you how good the food is.’
Socio-Dig: Does he bring any and show you?
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). Yes, he’s brought food to us and showed us how good it tastes. Like where there is stew. He told me, ‘drink the stew, I don’t like starchy vegetables.’ [laughs]. Sometimes he takes a little bowl to his father and he shows him. That’s in the national school there. As soon as you hear him get up in the morning [he’s out the door]. I’m the one who must run after him to give him a coin.
[Noise of a young man calling his mother]
The canteen helps a lot.
Socio-Dig: But do you see now that the children are more interested in coming school every day?
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). Yes, every day. They want to go, they’re interested. But that one doesn’t want to learn anything. I don’t know if it’s because he’s thinking about the food.
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). When the children go to school in the morning, if they send them back home, like if they did not come on Friday, or if they have a little problem with the director and he sends them back home, now, they don’t want to go. They stay in the school yard. Now that always happens, even when they had the canteen, even when they didn’t have the canteen. The children know that when they get home the parents are going to beat them [because they got sent home]. There are those who get to school late. When they get there, the director sends them home. They hide. If the director sees them, he makes them leave. They hide. They stay. Despite that when they stay, they won’t get any food, they stay anyway. That means that the children have something that interests them.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). In the same way, there are children who come to school, they don’t like school. The parents are obliged to send them because you can’t keep children in the house. There are children who are not interested in school. There are children too that, as soon as they get near the school entrance, they’re late, the people at the entrance could let them in, but they just watch the people go into the school. That means that there are those who are interested and there are those who are not really interested. Me, I have a young girl, a child who isn’t yet 14 years of age. As soon as she gets up, she combs her hair, she gets dressed, she goes. Me, I can be outside at recreation and she doesn’t come to me. It’s when she finishes eating at the canteen that she comes to me. Later I can give her something that she can eat because me, I can’t sleep without having eaten supper. Because, you know, when you begin to get old you can’t go without eating. She knows she has something to eat. It doesn’t interest her. She knows to come buy some cookies or lollipop. She is not interested in waiting for food.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Good. Let’s return to the subject of cold food, food that is uncooked that we can give children. What do you give children in the morning that’s not salt-food? Does it upset the stomach of the children? What can you give children to eat?
#4- (female; 37 years; Commerce; No schooling; 5 children; 2 children in program). Sometimes, when you give children sweet-food in the morning, it causes worms to rise into their chest. Children can have a stomachache. It makes them produce mucous and stomach acids. Their stomach can hurt. They produce phlegm and acids because the sweet-food upsets their stomach.
Socio-Dig: Hummm
#4: Sweet and salty are not the same. It can’t be good for children to eat something sweet.
Socio-Dig: Ok. For example, what if instead of cooked salt-food, they give the children something sweet? What do you think would be a good type of sweet-food to give the children? Do you understand the question?
#1– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). What could they give you in place of the canteen? Could it be a sugar cluster?
Socio-Dig: Yes, what would you agree they give your child? If it’s a sugar cluster, would you agree? Let’s say that they eat something salty in the morning [before they leave the house].
#9- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). Little cookie or something less. Like a hard candy, or something else. It wouldn’t be good, like a cookie. A little sweet cookie. Because I believe that in the morning, for them not to tire themselves. The only thing is if I made some coffee. But if it were something like porridge, they wouldn’t drink it. They would say, ‘Mama, it will make my stomach hurt.’ They won’t drink it. They don’t like it.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#1– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). I think that they could give them some porridge. The best thing in the place of salt-food would be oatmeal. I think that oatmeal could best take the place of salt-food.
Socio-Dig: Ok. What fruits do you have around here?
#9- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). We have good oranges, we have apples.
Socio-Dig: Let’s get rid of the idea of apples. Let’ talk about local foods. What fruit do you have that’s local?
#9- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). To give children in the morning? It would have to be a good orange, if not a banana. Because that’s local fruit. And perhaps you could give children a jam with bread. Because that’s what I see that’s closest for them to give children. You see a child, you can give him a good mango either in the morning or the evening… You can give him a mango for breakfast, you understand. It depends on the child.
Socio-Dig: You could give them a mango to eat because of the vitamins. I had a child, I gave him a mango and someone told me I could give him a mango. I mean someone who is in the medical field, he told me you could give a child a mango to eat. You give him three or four mangos. You can give him a mango to eat, even if he hasn’t eaten anything. Do you understand?
Socio-Dig: I understand.
#9- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). He could eat a banana in the morning if he eats an egg. He eats a banana and it won’t hurt him at all because it’s got vitamins. But to give a child sugar water. Juice comes after. People don’t drink juice without eating. You must eat to drink juice. And what I see, there’s porridge that the child can drink and it won’t do anything [bad] to him. Me, since I was a child, I get bad gas. It’s in my chest. You see me, if I get up in the morning, I must eat something salty first. If not, I must drink a little water. When I come home, I eat something salty. After that, I can eat something sweet. Because if I take something sweet first, it burns my chest. I won’t feel good. I think that children can be like that too.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you.
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). Me, even in the market, I don’t see neither bananas nor oranges.
Public: Laughter
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). Even my children, like Soursop [fruit], as soon as it’s ripe they eat any size. They eat it any way they can. One eats one, two eat one. They eat it until they can’t stand up. Sometimes they want to eat sweet oranges like that. But there aren’t that many of them. You can find a few. But common oranges, they eat however many they want, whenever they want.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you. As parents, if the program decided, for example, just an example …
Public: yes.
Socio-Dig: If the program decided that you didn’t have a choice, that the program had no choice, that it’s only sweet-foods they can feed the children, in your opinion would you agree to give the children something sweet or would you say that it’s better they don’t give the children anything at all?
#9- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). In my opinion, I have two children in the program, it would not be good for me personally. Mine wouldn’t eat anything at all. I would rather they let me know so that I can give them something instead. Maybe the one I have in the National school, he’s a boy and maybe he’d eat it. But I have two girls and they would not eat anything sweet at all, not at all.
Socio-Dig: The children would not eat it?
Public: No.
Socio-Dig: Ok. No one else has anything to say?
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). Since when they give you something it’s a gift they’re making, it’s the same as them giving you something for free. [Laughs]. People make a gift of what they want. Give someone a knock in the head with a stick, it’s something they’re giving [laughs]. If they’re making a gift, then you’re obliged to get up early and make some medicinal salt-food to give the children [to deal with the problem]. Rather than not get anything at all, I’d rather get up early and boil some leaves [to make a minimal type of salt-food] [Laughs]. When he comes home from school he’ll eat [salt-food]. They’re giving you the food.
#1– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). Wait until you get zero.
Public: Laughter
Socio-Dig: If they’re giving it away, you’ll take it.
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). Oh, they’re giving it to you, eh.
Public: Laughter
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). Rather than get zero, I’d rather get one [laughs].
Socio-Dig: Ok. I agree with you. I understand what you’re saying. I know that it’s local food they’re giving. Do you think that if the food was imported it would be better? Or you think that local food is better?
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). Local food is better.
Socio-Dig: Number 6?
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). Local food has vitamins. Food overseas, now they have a type of plastic rice, plastic spaghetti. It’s not good for you. Local food is better.
Socio-Dig: Ok. No one would like to add anything? When you say local, do…
Public: Food from this country!
Socio-Dig: For example, let’s take this school. Where does the food come from? Where do they buy it?
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). It’s a truck that that I see brings it here. I don’t know where it comes from.
Socio-Dig: Ok. And you guys around here, do you have enough vegetables that you could provision the school? That you could sell to the school rather than them going and getting the vegetables from some other place.
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). We don’t have the produce around here. Take a look and see, it’s only now that the rains are falling and the grass is sprouting. They don’t have anything here right now.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). They would find it close to here. Like the plantains there. We have something called,
lalo [a type green]. We sometimes are full of lalo. We eat lalo. Make white rice. We are sometimes full of lalo. We have lyan panye [another type of green]. Behind that wall there, very close, we plant spinach. In the corner of that church, we plant spinach flowers. We sometimes sell piles of spinach. But you know, since the bad weather, things are in tatters. We don’t have anything around here. We have how many months since we had rain? It’s only now that the rain is falling. We have little stuff that’s coming back.
[Noise of a motorcycle passing]
We would have to buy it in the market?
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thanks. Well, we can finish. Let’s talk a little between ourselves. Regarding the role you have in the school, as parents, what do you think you could do to help the program function better for the children? Yes, number 8.
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program).Us parents could help the school with small necessities, do things for the children. Even if we’re selling it, even if we’re giving it. But it’s not easy right now because we have no money. Myself, I have some things I can sell. The school could buy them from me. But the school does not have any money. Sometimes you have a little money, you borrowed it from the office [from an institutional lender], but as soon as you’ve paid one or two months interest the money is gone. The reason is that trade doesn’t have any profit. You buy, like those cookies I see. When the lady sells them. It’s us two who sell cookies in the school yard. There is a type of cookie they call Casino.
[Noise of a siren interrupts]
Socio-Dig: Pardon, yes, you may continue.
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). When you buy a big bag of cookies, they sell for 12 dollars (60 Goud). If you don’t sell the small packages at 2 for 5 dollars, you won’t make anything. On the contrary, you will lose some of your capital. After that, the other cookies sell for 11 dollars. They have 12 small packs of cookies in them. [You sell them for 1 dollar each]. You make a single dollar. If you eat a pack of cookies yourself, then you don’t make anything at all. If you have a child who eat two packs you don’t make anything at all. Your capital starts to disappear.
But if you had a little money for you to sit down with, we could buy [to resell and] to help the school. But we can’t. Things are a little difficult for us. When you have a little money, sometimes you buy a sack of lollipops, you buy them at 43 dollars, you make four dollars. But in that 4 dollars, children are little animals that like to suck lollipops. The children tell you, ‘Mama, give me a lollipop.’ You give them one so that they will stop looking at what other people are eating. Now you have three dollars left. But there are children who ask their parents and there are children who do not ask. They watch, they take one, they fill their bodies with cookies. The money dissapears. Do you understand?
Me and this woman here, we used to make [and sell] peanut butter and bread. You remember that one time that I had peanut butter? There was a seller of Cassava bread. I bought some to sell with the peanut butter. But you know that there are a lot of children that don’t like cassava. I couldn’t sell it. It spoiled and I had to throw it away. It went like that. We almost didn’t sell any of the peanut butter and bread at the school. I roasted four mammite of peanuts. When he saw that, the School Director, [laughs], he’s a man who if he doesn’t’ see peanut butter he’ll go to the market and buy a container of it. I had to tell him, well Preacher, I’m giving you this peanut butter. I’m giving it to you and you see what you can do with it, because it doesn’t sell.
It’s not that you can’t buy something and sell it. It’s the school. It’s not everyone who has money to give their children to buy something to eat at school. When they come home from school, you can boil an egg, you can give the child a banana, it’s good for them. It’s truly good for their insides. But you can’t do that. When children get here to the school, it’s four pieces of fried dough for 10 Goud. After that he finds good stew to drink. The child sees you with a bunch of eggs, but you’re going to have to eat them. [She is complaining that because the child gets too much to eat at school. Also note that much of this food is not so good for the child, bringing up another issue, i.e. the quality of alternative foods such as candy and cheap fried foods].
Socio-Dig: Hmm.
Public: They’ll stay there and wait for when a plate of food is ready. There are some things you can’t do to them.
#1– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). As soon as you’re dealing with the bank’s money, you can’t do anything. You’re working for nothing. It’s buy and sell. There are things you can’t afford to buy.
Socio-Dig: Ok. As parents, do you feel like you have any influence over the school director? How can I say this? If you have a problem and you go to the director, will he listen to the problem you have and help you resolve it? Or do you think that the director will listen but not do anything about it?
#4- (female; 37 years; Commerce; No schooling; 5 children; 2 children in program). The director will listen to you. He’ll respond to your problem.
Socio-Dig: Ok. And you ma’am. I know that your school director isn’t here?
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). If you’re in the school of director BLANK, any problem you have, if you owe money, you must pay. All the time you have not paid, they’ll be asking you for it. They’ll ask for it. They’ll hold meetings. They’ll whip your children.
Socio-Dig: They’ll whip your children if you have not paid?
#3– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). Yes, they’ll whip the children. If it’s something they ask for and you have not given it. The children don’t know anything. They do not need to beat the children. But all the time they don’t get their money, they whip the children. They hold meetings and call all the parents. They show us that they’re very angry about the money.
Socio-Dig: Ok. But if you have a problem with the director, then who do you go to resolve the problem?
#4- (female; 37 years; Commerce; No schooling; 5 children; 2 children in program). I don’t have any problem to go to the director or the teachers with. Whatever they tell my child, for me, it’s “Yes.” Everything they say is correct. If they send my child home because of something I don’t have, I go to the administration and I give them a date that I will pay, so it’s clear.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#9- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). Me too. Both my school directors are good directors.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#6- (female; 58 years; Commerce; 4th grade; 6 children; 6 children in program). … I don’t think people should be sending the children home, or for them to be whipping the children, the children don’t know anything. They need to deal with the parents. The director of my child’s school is good.
[People are talking among themselves]
Socio-Dig: Ok. I know that you all live in town. I would like to ask if all the teachers in the rural areas are teachers who get paid? Do they make good money?
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). Teachers must teach school. I don’t believe they would teach school and not get paid. Even if it is in a private school or a state school. The state pays sooner or later. When the month ends, when a teacher first begins to work, he can work for as much as three years and not get paid. For example, I know a teacher who got appointed, they went three years without paying him. Like Professor BLANK that the woman was talking about. Well I attend his church. That man spent a long time. They named him as director of the school in Sileg. He went as long as four years without getting paid. He worked and he never got discouraged. He never got paid. There was a man around here who they appointed to a school. It wasn’t Sileg. Eh, Jean BLANK. I believe he went for how long and never ever got paid. After that, when they did pay him, they paid him little by little. A school director can’t not get paid.
Take Pasteur BLANK. He gets paid. All professors get paid. People can’t come to school and get their cloths dirty. That’s something of the past. Before you could go to the Onarak School [Laughs] and you don’t get paid. But now, these days, things have become a little more developed. All teachers get paid.
But you know, people are working, they get their cloths dirty. You [the teacher] are not the one who sent the kids to school. It’s the kid’s parents, it’s their responsibility to make him get educated. He [the teacher] can’t come to school, he can’t work at the school and not get paid. There’s no one who’s going to say that’s not true. People get paid per month. But it’s true that when it comes to children, me, I can tell you that there are people like Professor BLANK who is director of BLANK School. There are children he takes that he buys the uniforms for, he pays for their shoes. Every year he has anywhere from five to six children [he pays for]. Sometimes too, other parents [who have been paying] get to a point where they can’t pay. They complain that he will put the child out of the school. The parents are saying ‘I’ll do this to pay and I’ll do that or I can’t pay because of this.’ And Professor BLANK says, ‘ok, you can send them to school. Send them.’
And nowadays, you can’t do it. Our own parents, long time ago, if you went to school and you passed one year in school, after that, in another year, your parents might not be able to afford to pay the next year and so you sat out for a year. But these days we don’t have that. The director does all he can to keep the children in school. Because there, it’s a private school. It doesn’t belong to the State. The state recognizes them, but it doesn’t give them anything. But they make money. They make money.
All the directors who work are qualified. They’re good people. They listen to you. They can understand you. Because they are always having meeting with the parents. They must hold meetings with parents from every grade. What makes some children not learn when they come to school? I have a little girl who doubled the fifth grade. Now she’s in 6th grade. The reason is because she didn’t work. She was goofing off. I took her and I have her a couple good switches to see if she would pass. Because a child must work to get anything out of school. Sometimes the teacher is working and the children are off doing whatever they want. Sometimes the teacher is working and the child has his head down on the bench. He’s not even looking at the chalkboard. Do you understand me?
There it’s your fault, the child’s mother is not doing her job. The teacher is working with you, so normally the child can pass. If it’s the mother, if the mother knows how to read, she’ll put the child in front of her and she’ll work with her. If the father knows how to read, he’ll put the child in front of him and work with him. They’ll do this to help the child with what he’s been learning.
But if you take a child, when children get out of school and change their clothes… You know, as soon as they get out of school, they are thinking about the house, yes. But as soon as the bell rings, they’ve prayer, they’re running for home. You can find yourself yelling, ‘LOOK OUT!’ A car can hit them because the only thing they see is home.
But it’s education. To help children you yourself have to [teach him]. If you can’t read, you must make the child take the book. As soon as you see him get out of school, you leave a little something for him to eat, even those who attend a school with a canteen. When he gets to the house you give him a little something to eat and you say, ‘Change your cloths and get your book.’ It’s normal.
Socio-Dig: Ok, thank you ladies. I have one last question to ask. Do you use SMS? Do you send messages on your telephone? Do most of you use this?
Public: Yes, yes
Socio-Dig: Ok. If WFP said to you, for example, that it was going to put a system in so that everywhere there is a canteen the parents could send a message to complain about any problem, would you guys, as parents, use the system?
Socio-Dig: Yes, number 1.
#1– (female; 34 years; Commerce; 8th grade; 2 children; 1 child in program). If you have a telephone. But in the end, I don’t see what problem you could have that you would call. It’s not important.
Socio-Dig: It’s not important?
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). It’s not important for you to give orders to people where they’re doing their job.
#4- (female; 37 years; Commerce; No schooling; 5 children; 2 children in program). Parents who go and give reports like that, it’s not going to be good for your child. If they find out what parent complained, it’s going to dig a hole for them.
Socio-Dig: Ok ladies, I say thank you. I’m going to stop the questions now. I don’t know if you have any questions you want to ask us. Number 8?
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). The question I would like to ask you. I remember that Miss Natacha came to visit already,
Socio-Dig: Yes, yes.
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). But him, the young playboy, I don’t know if he’s married or if he’s a playboy [laughs]. But he didn’t come before. It was another.
Socio-Dig: Ahh, that was Mr. Pharrel.
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). Yes, Mr. Pharrel came. Well, when I didn’t see me, there is something I would … Because we asked some questions the first time with the foreigner. Well, he said he was coming back. Well, we see that he didn’t return.
Socio-Dig. No, that’s us. We are a team. We’re the same.
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). Well, is it true what you say? Can you really do this? It’s like I see that you’re insisting on it. [a reference to giving cold pre-prepared food]
Socio-Dig: On what?
#8- (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). (female; 64 years; Commerce; ;4th grade; 4 children; 1 grandchild in program). It’s this issue of salt vs. sweet-food. Is it true? [laughs]. That’s what I would like to know.
Socio-Dig: For me, let me tell you clear. What we do, what we’ve tried to explain is that we work with WFP. But we only do research. We come and ask questions. We talk to you, we look at the situation, and we write a report. We take you complaints and what you see as good, and then we explain to WFP the situation. That’s why everything you say is important. That’s why we record everything you say. When we get to the office we listen to it and then we summarize your words. But us, we cannot speak for WFP. It’s not us who makes decisions.
Public: -Ok. Very well.
Focus Group #2: Rice Farmers (Kawouk)
Date of focus group: 3/27/2017
Date of transcription: 04/04/2017-04/15/2017
Date of translation: 04/15/2017-04/20/2017
Interviewers
Almathe Jean: Female, 28 years of age, 0 children, Focus Group supervisor
Natacha: Female, 28 years of age, no children, focus group leader and surveyor
Jackly: Male, 33 years of age, 2 children, Survey supervisor and focus group leader
Participants
#1: Male; 53 years old; Farmer; None; 1 child; No child in the program
#3: Male; 62 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 5 children; No child in the program
#4: Male; 38 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 7 children; No child in the program
#5: Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program
#6: Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program
#7: Male; 20 years old; Farmer; 4th grade; 2 children; No child in the program
FOCUS GROUP TRANSCRIPTION
Socio-Dig (Almathe): Good morning everyone!
Public: Good morning Madame!
Socio-Dig (Almathe): I want to thank you all for your presence this morning. I’m Almathe. I am working for a firm. What do we do? We do research all over the country. For now we are working for WFP, which is World Food Program. WFP has a school lunch program where they buy local food to give schools to feed the school children. We are here this morning to talk with you about your role in the program. I will let my colleagues introduce themselves to you.
[Someone clears his throat.]
Socio-Dig (Natacha): Good morning to you all!
Public: Good morning to you.
Socio-Dig (Natacha): My name is Natacha. I work for a firm called Socio-Dig. Today we are representing WFP. You already know what WFP is. I will let Jackly speak now.
Socio-Dig (Jackly): Good morning gentlemen!
Public: Good morning!
Socio-Dig (Jackly): I’m Jackly. I work for Socio-Dig, a research firm. Currenty, we are working for WFP. We are here to speak to you farmers who are selling to ROPANIP. So, we are pleased to be here to have this discussion together.
Socio-Dig (Almathe): All right! Thank you. To start, what do we do? You can see that we have these small devices in front of us; which will record everything we will talk about. We have some questions to ask you. We would like to discuss with you. We would like for everyone to participate. Everything we discuss will be put in a report when we get back to our office. That report will be given to WFP. In that report, we explain to WFP what we found based on the questions that we had asked you. We will tell WFP, ‘here is what the farmers said when we ask them these questions.’
Do you understand?
Public: Yes.
Socio-Dig: …. To start, you have a number in your hand. When we ask a question that you want to answer it, you will repeat the number you have in your hand. It will help us to know who is answering the question. We will go around and have you introduce yourself with the number that you have in your hands. We want you to say who you are; what do you do. You can give a little presentation of yourself, just a short presentation. As you can see, we’ve already presented ourselves. I gave you my name and what I do. We will start with you, pastor.
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Ok, alright. Well, I’m… My number is 6. So, I’m a pastor who is preaching the gospel. So, what do I do? I urge people to come and accept Christ for them to have eternal life. But I also engage in agriculture. I grow rice, bananas, and all the products you know the earth can produce. I breed several kinds of animals, livestock and so on. But now I am working, thanks to other farmers, you know, like me. We help each other to farm. Because I do not have enough resources. I am not even in good health. I started selling to WFP since 2016. Do you understand? Products from the marsh, like rice. They even proposed that we sell other things, like other food.
[Loud song of birds singing.]
They asked for corn. Do you understand me? Papaya and so forth, do you understand? I could not provide them to WFP. It is for that reason we came to 2017, I can tell you, the products, the harvest was solid. We do not have enough resources to work the land. Do you understand? When it comes to our own strength and with the small amount of money we have, we have other responsibilities. To care for the children, such as paying school fees. However, the small amount of money we have we cannot invest all of it in the land. We need to pay for our children to go to school. That is why we need… If we could get some help…
Socio-Dig: I am sorry Pastor! We will give you the possibility to ask questions later. [At the moment] We just want you to do a presentation about yourself.
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). OK. So generally, that is what I wanted to say. I would be glad if WFP would help us. Do you understand me?
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thanks pastor. We will get there later. Let us just introduce ourselves for now. Tell us who you are, name, and what you do.
#1: (Male; 53 years old; Farmer; None; 1 child; No child in the program). I’m… My number is 1. What do I do? I’m a farmer. I do all kinds of agriculture as well as a breeder. [Laughter]
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). I am… I’m number 5. I am a living farmer that provides the country food to eat.
Socio-Dig: Ok, alright.
#3: (Male; 62 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 5 children; No child in the program).. My number is 3. I am a farmer. I raise animals. I don’t do anything else. That is the only thing I do.
.Socio-Dig: Ok, thank you.
#4: (Male; 38 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 7 children; No child in the program). My number is 4. I’m a farmer and businessman.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#7: (Male; 20 years old; Farmer; 4th grade; 2 children; No child in the program). I am 7. I am a farmer and I breed livestock.
Socio-Dig: Another thing I would like to ask you. Do you give us permission to take pictures during the meeting?
Public: No problem. That cannot disturb us. This is nothing. Since you want it, we want it. We’re not in a dictatorship. We are all farmers. We are collecting the harvest. We are just working. Well, ok, agreed. [Laughter]
Socio-Dig: Let’s begin. In this area what kind of crops you produce the most?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Um, in the past, the crop that we produced the most was millet. Unfortunately, we lost that production. As everyone knows, we will not lie, we lost the production. We do not have it [millet] at all anymore. But we have rice now. It is our major production. Because you know it takes 90 days, 100 days, 110 days. That is how we make it. But it was not valuable in the past. When the internationals sent rice, ours was ignored. We couldn’t even pay school for our children. They got sent home for the [lack of paying the] school’s fee. Um, we were poorly organized in that way. Well, fortunately WFP got involved in the situation along with ROPANIP to bring a change. We do other small things, but our main product in the past was millet. As for now, our main crop is rice.
Socio-Dig: Ok. My next question I want to ask you. Are all of you members of an association?
Public: Yes, yes, yes.
Socio-Dig: Which association?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). AJIPOU. Youth Progressive Association of Oroupe. It is affiliated with ROPANIP. It is integrated with ROPANIP.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Do you sell directly to ROPANIP? How does the market chain work?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Well, at the time, it is unprofitable. The season was not so good. We only got a taste. We are asking for more support. When you are selling to an institution you must have a reserve. We cannot afford to care for the fields. We only have a place to set our feet. It is like we are selling our toes and are left with our feet. We cannot sell all of it. How would we feed our kids? If we had the funds in our hands we would go far. Similarly, if your car has fuel, it will go everywhere. But if it does not have fuel it can go no place. If at least we had a bit of financial support in our hands we could work.
We have no support at all. Our leaders, the system of our country, and our government does not support farmers. That is why we cannot provide food for the country. To provide the country with food we must have the ability to be modernize agriculture. It has not been done. Well, now with a simple hoe… Since this morning one has not yet eaten? We do everything alone.
[Sound of birds singing is loud]
If our government got involved in agricultural that would be significant. The priority is agriculture. For all the intellectuals and those with doctorates, they need food. If they encouraged us we could give more. We would not have any problems with WFP. But now, this means that we have no reserves left. When we give to ROPANIP we do not have any left. Today we are asking for WFP to give assistance to ROPANIP so that we can produce more and sell more.
Socio-Dig: Alright. Let’s clarify something. Do you sell directly to ROPANIP or you go through another association to sell to ROPANIP?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). No. No other one. We sell directly to ROPANIP.
[A phone is ringing]
Socio-Dig: Another question about that, anyone can answer. Make yourself comfortable. How does ROPANIP get the products from you?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). ROPANIP?
Socio-Dig: Yes, how does the market chain work?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Well, the way the market chain works is that we give to ROPANIP directly. Do you understand? ROPANIP does not give us a bad price. They go to the market on a market day to verify the price. But one thing, when we sell in the market it is better for us. The reason is the “Cooking Pot Rice” or “Steamed Rice” is more cost effective for us. ROPANIP takes the “Sun Rice.” But they visit the market first before setting the price. They also provide a small percentage more than the market.
Socio-Dig: Ok. I do not understand when you said, “Cooking Pot Rice,” prepared in a pot?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Pot Rice is rice, yellow rice.
Socio-Dig: Steamed Rice is not smashed [in a mortar and pestle]? It is milled?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Well, it’s milled, yes. What ROPANIP requests is the “Sun Rice.” No. It is the same thing. We don’t put it on fire [do not boil it].
Socio-Dig: It is milled?
Public: No. It comes out white. We do not put it on fire, same as Miami rice.
Socio-Dig: Ok, alright. Another thing, I don’t know much about rice production. I would like to ask you to give me more explanation about the process?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Ok.
Socio-Dig: Steamed Rice, can someone explain the process? Anyone, how do you steam the rice?
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Steamed Rice is after the rice is harvested and you put it in your home. You need to have a large barrel for cleaning it. You remove the mud and straw then you put it in a pot so that you can boil it. After [boiling], you drain the water and you spread it in the sun to dry. After it’s dry, you roll it. The rice is already cooked before you cook it again. It’s cooked twice.
But WFP requests we dry the rice in the sun. They tell us the amount time in the sun it needs. You put in the sun and then you roll it. It becomes white like the Miami rice. And that is how they asked us to do it. But like my colleague told you earlier, when the rice is boiled first, we get more out of it. Do you understand?
When it’s not cooked, we get less. What happens… We spoke about it January 2016. We brought it up with them [WFP and BND] to see if we they could raise the price they are paying us for it. For WFP to help us farmers to get a small loan. Do you understand? We would like a higher price, something different. We would like for them to help us farmers get a loan. Do you understand me? We would like a loan for us to work the land.
[A phone is ringing.]
Because if I had the money…
Socio-Dig: Let the phone ring!
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). If I had the money… there are many farmers who are poor. When they finish planting rice, they must go to a seller to borrow money before the harvest, to feed themselves and their family. But if we had money we would buy the rice between us farmers. Then, if WFP needs a ton of rice per year, we might be able to provide it to them. I was the first to start selling to WFP along with my colleagues here. We pulled together and we provided it. We had provided it twice already. Do you understand? But this coming harvest, beforehand, we would like for WFP to find a solution. To look how they can raise the price, my friend.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). There is a question, I want to focus on it. We would like WFP to make it possible for us to get a humidifier. Because that device will help us to know the rate of moisture in the rice; so that we can know when it is ready to mill and when it is not good for milling. Because sometimes we mess it up, it breaks in our hands.
Socio-Dig: You do not have one?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). No, we do not have one. Sometimes the rice breaks because we don’t know when it’s ready. Sometimes we give too much sun and when we grind it, it breaks into small pieces. So, we ended up going to other people to purchase, so to complete the amount for WFP. We are losing. We are only selling a small amount to ROPANIP. But WFP could do something. They could check a humidifier for us, for us to know when the rice is ready and to control the humidity so that we can mill it at the right time. We want the rice to come out whole. Because other institutions have humidifiers, they put the device under the rice to know what degree of humidity it is. It tells what degree it should be. It tells at what degree to mill the rice. [If we had a humidifier] Then we would give WFP better rice. A rice [with grains that are] whole. As for us… Sometimes we give the rice too much sun. It came out bad. We don’t know when it’s ready. We are doing it based on luck.
Socio-Dig: You are doing it based on luck?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). By chance. If it is good, it is good. If it is not, it is not. When it is not good, it is not profitable for us at all. When the rice breaks into small pieces we cannot sell it. So, it is a deficit. [It costs us money to produce]. To take care of it in the rice paddies we spend countless hours and we pay people to help us. It is like the same with you, when you leave your institution you have someone to take over for you.
Socio-Dig: To take over for you?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Yes! You need to pay them. You are paying from what you earn. If you do not make money, you will not be able to pay them. It will bite into your capital. If you have a bank account, you will have to withdraw money to pay people. That is not good.
Socio-Dig: Absolutely!
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). I ask whether WFP would make us a favor to find us a humidifier. That could help us to control the humidity in the rice, to know when it has too much heat, for the rice not to break into small pieces.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you very much. Let’s go back to the steamed rice versus white rice. Do you mean you earn more money when the rice is steamed?
Public: [Laughter] Absolutely!
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Absolutely! Easily, easily!
Socio-Dig: Easily? Why are you selling to WFP if you make more money with the steamed rice? Ok number 5.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Well um, some of my colleagues do not understand the system yet. WFP gives us an advantage as well. The advantage WFP gives us is that our children, our brothers, our sisters, and our friends are eating the rice. Because WFP is doing something good for us. We must make sacrifices so we give it to them.
Public: Laughter
Socio-Dig: Ok, right. Remember, I told you that everyone can participate.
Public: Yes. All of us are participating.
Socio-Dig: Let’s go back to ROPANIP. How does ROPANIP get rice from you? Is it you who goes to deliver the rice to them or do they come to collect it? They come to take the rice from you? How does the process work?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Some of my colleagues here do not know the system. I am not being irreverent. We deliver the rice to them and they reimburse us for transport. Um, if they came to get it, they would have to pay. They don’t make us pay for transport. They have an agreement with the us so that we don’t overspend, because it would have to come from the capital. They support the transportation. They support the people who deliver it to them.
Socio-Dig: Are you the one doing the delivery?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Yes, we deliver it to them. They take care of the transportation cost. They pay transportation for the person doing the delivery. It does not come from our capital. The delivery payment comes from them.
Socio-Dig: Ok! I understand that you deliver it to them. But is there a small association within the association, for instance a committee member that is responsible for delivering the rice? Is the committee responsible for taking the rice and delivering it to WFP or can anyone do it on their own? Number 6, do you want to speak?
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). I’m number 6. This is how we do it. When we finish preparing the rice, we must mill it. Normally, we call the guy who works for them to come and to tell us what to do. So, they must… They tell us how measure it and put the rice in sacks. We put 18 marmites of rice per sack. We put it in the sacks, and then we call a driver to deliver it to them. They pay transport. But for the milling we pay for it. We mill it, we pay for that. So, we simply do not pay for the transportation fee to deliver it to them.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Um, host, I am number 5. We have a mill. It was given to us by Gouveneman Lakay[1]. And with it we intended to do all our transactions. It was just a carrier potè. It broke many times. Our engine is perfectly good. But don’t you see in your agenda or conscience to help us with a mill. And we could give a percentage of the fee. The new one would be more reliable. It could protect us farmers. We believe that the mill is for us. It is for the community. It was given to the community by the Martelly administration. The mill is good but it has broken down many times. It broke down; whack, whack. And we need a lot of money. We don’t know how you can give a report on that for us? How you can help us with the mill to get a new system? It is not the engine but the mill. Maybe we can give a percentage. How can WFP help us?
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you. Number 3, 4 or 7 would you like to add something to what we have discussed so far?
#3: (Male; 62 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 5 children; No child in the program). Well, all I wanted to say is what they already said. I have nothing to say. Thank you.
Socio-Dig: We all can participate. Everything you say is important. Ok, number 4.
#4: (Male; 38 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 7 children; No child in the program). Well, this is what we notice about the farmers. All of us here are farmers. Among the farmers, we have a lot of land. Mostly, we do not really cultivate it all. We would work it [the land], but we have no finance to invest in the land. WFP could get a lot of rice, but a quarter of the land is left empty because we do not have the resources and the intelligence to work the land. Do you understand?
[Noise bird singing and motorbikes passing]
Because that is what I see in my conscience. That is what I can tell because the land is abandoned.
Socio-Dig: Ok! Thank you. Are you the one who set the price for the rice? Are you the one setting the price as farmers or is it WFP that tells you how much it will pay you for the rice?
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Like my brother said earlier, they go to the market to verify the price. As for us, they tell us how it’s being sold on the market. They say they will add this amount more to the selling price. The Steamed Rice sells for $30HT, 150 goud, a pot of milled rice. I myself asked for the price to be increased because prices it went up. For someone to buy a bucket of rice its $70HT, $75HT and it still has the straw in it.
Socio-Dig: It has not yet been milled?
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). That is why at this moment we do not have any resources at all. Also, with Matthew, which destroyed everything, now the country has nothing. There are no resources. There is no rice. Now, when WFP will need the rice, it will find it to be very, very expensive. So, that is why we need you to take this complaint for us. I am telling you that a bucket of rice still with the straw is $70HT. We will be happy if you can take our complaint to WFP. How many pots are in the bucket? Sometimes it has 2½ or 3 pots. It’s still not profitable, the rice has more straw then grain. We would like for people to come and talk to us about our problem. As our host, to take the complaint to them for us to increase the price, because the selling price is not profitable at all.
Socio-Dig: As for you here…
Public: Yes!
[ Phone is ringing.]
Socio-Dig: How do you plant rice? Do you have a nursery? Do you have fertilizers? Do you use seeds?
#3: (Male; 62 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 5 children; No child in the program). (Male; 62 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 5 children; No child in the program). We use seeds. When it’s ready we come, we organize ourselves, and prepare the land. When the land is ready, we plant.
Socio-Dig: You do not use fertilizer?
#3: (Male; 62 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 5 children; No child in the program). (Male; 62 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 5 children; No child in the program). No, we do not use fertilizer.
Socio-Dig: It’s hard to get?
#3: (Male; 62 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 5 children; No child in the program). (Male; 62 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 5 children; No child in the program). Sometimes we travel all the way to Deriseau to an office to buy it or we go all the way to Miragoâne. Sometimes we give a person money to buy it for us from Port-au-Prince. That’s how it is.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Let’s talk about the seeds. Where do you buy seeds? Do you produce them yourselves?
#3: (Male; 62 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 5 children; No child in the program). (Male; 62 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 5 children; No child in the program). The seeds?
Socio-Dig: Yes. You produce them?
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Hold on. I believe that WFP and ROPANIP got together some time back to order seeds for us. But the seeds were not trustworthy. That is why we decided to not use them. They were not dependable. They were full of straw. [Someone coughing]. Not even the vendors wanted to buy them…
Socio-Dig: The vendors are the ones who give you an advantage?
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Ok listen, we took the seeds, we cared for them, we removed the straw. But we did not get enough to plant. I am telling you, normally we have no guarantee. We had to look for other varieties ourselves so went to Aux Cayes. Some people go all the way to Artibonite and buy rice from there and come back with it [to plant]. Sometimes they may go to look for rice far away, but they do not even know the name of the seeds. It might be good seeds or bad seeds.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). It has no origin.
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Well, WFP met with ROPANIP because there are many farmers who planted the rice and lost the whole harvest. Until now there is leftover rice seed. They can’t give it away.
Socio-Dig: Ok number 5.
#5: Actually, the agronomist who brought it… You bring a plan. But it depends. It’s the same as plantains. The type of plantain might be able to produce more than another type. Normally, the first task to do should be to come and test the soil. You must come to verify the type of soil, to see the variety of seeds that should be planted. Sadly, what they gave us was wrong. They gave an L1 and with another he put 10. He gave us a different one that makes the situation worst. It was not good. Then WFP said they will loan us money for seeds. We waited on WFP and we failed. We did not have money. The rice was bad from the time it was seed. We lost bout the crab and our strength (Nou pèdi krab nou pèdi kourayi).
Socio-Dig: Besides that, what else causes you to lose production?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Well, um…
Socio-Dig: Fertilizer?
#5: The fertilizer is one, and also bad weather. During bad weather, we get massive erosion [soil is carried down with the flood waters and smothers the crops] and we lose the whole harvest. We are left with nothing.
Socio-Dig: No animals eat the rice?
#5: Yes. The Madame Sarah’s [birds] and rats, epidemics… but Madam Sarah attack us most. It takes a lot of work, especially if you are paying people to work. It is expensive to have a successful harvest.
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Well, there is an insect that is called “bedbug” that always attacks the rice. It is there when the rice is sprouting and normally they get inside and drink the rice milk. The rice comes out like straw. You understand? The bug gets more [of the harvest than us]. Like the rats, we cannot harvest what we were supposed to harvest.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Do you have a plan for how to kill the insects or are you just waiting for someone to come and resolve the problem for you? What you do to fight the epidemics? What plans do you have to get rid of them?
[Birds singing]
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Farmers who have money buy insecticide. They buy products to spray their fields. But if you don’t have money you are helpless. That is how it is. If you don’t have money… actually, in a developed country, when you are farming you need money. Agriculture can’t be done without money.
Socio-Dig: How long does it take for the rice to be ready?
#5: There are multiple varieties of rice. Some takes 3 months, 90 days, 100 days. Some take 110 days.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Is there a season to plant rice? Can you plant it at any time?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Yes, but you must be careful, there is a profitable period. Now we are in the spring … If you plant the rice in November, December, in the winter, it will only sprout. Even with the sprouting, if you don’t have money to buy fertilizers, you will get nothing.
Socio-Dig: Ok, thank you. What number do you have? (Number 1) Number 1, how much money do you spend on planting rice? And my other question to you would be on how much land do you plant rice? Do you work by kawo [French carreaux = 1.29 hectare or 3.18 acres]?
#1: (Male; 53 years old; Farmer; None; 1 child; No child in the program). I don’t work by kawo. I work by ka [quarter of a kawo]. But I plant 3 times per year, because my means are small.
Socio-Dig: How much money you can spend during the year for planting rice?
#1: (Male; 53 years old; Farmer; None; 1 child; No child in the program). I can’t calculate it. I do it piece by piece. If you put that on a notebook maybe you can calculate it because I do piece by piece each time. I have not calculated it.
Socio-Dig: Do you spend around $3,000 HTG?
#1: (Male; 53 years old; Farmer; None; 1 child; No child in the program). No, it is not that much.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). It’s not $3,000HTG. Actually, we share crop, 50/50. The owners of land get the same amount we get. The harvest is divided between the two. That is why it’s tearing our guts out. The owner of the land doesn’t pay a single Goud.
Socio-Dig: Which means the land that you are working is not yours?
Public: No. Few people own their own land.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Few people have land. It’s 50/50. If you sell 10 buckets of rice you get 5, and the owner gets 5. He/she doesn’t give anything, not a single Goud or even a drink of water. That is why we are in this situation. Don’t even ask if you can go to a seller to take an advance…. If the bucket costs $20HTG when it is ready, he would offer you $10HTG or $5HTG. You sacrifice yourself for the farm. That is why we are in this situation. You go to the seller for an advance, if the price is $20HTG, he offers you $10HTG or $5HTG. The owner of the land crosses his arms while you are doing all the work and he waits for the harvest. We are dying here.
17l#1: (Male; 53 years old; Farmer; None; 1 child; No child in the program). While we are killing ourselves, if we harvest 10 buckets of rice, 5 buckets are for him. But you already spent your 5 buckets. Now you come up with nothing.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). You do not make anything at all.
Socio-Dig: Is it because you do not have land or you cannot afford it.
Public: We cannot afford it.
Socio-Dig: Or you have the land but you are unable to work it?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Um, it’s a question of money. Because if you are a grand don, your parents left you land and you will not want to sell it. You have a guarantee that you will not spend money. The money you receive, you put it in the bank. You will not sell it. Do you understand? You get a free pass. You got people working for you to fill your pocket with money. You take the money and put it in the bank. Why would you sell your land? To sell your land you would need to be on hard times. There are no hard times for those people.
Socio-Dig: Thank you. As for fertilizers and pesticides, I want to talk about prices. How much money do you spend on chemicals to treat the farms?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Excellent question host!
Socio-Dig: How much can you spend to treat the fields?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Ok. We must become like a guinea fowl. We become like a guinea fowl in character.
Socio-Dig: Guinea fowl?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program).: Because with sharecropping we get no support. Well, you are not getting anything because everything you buy to spray the rice is coming out of your own pocket. It’s on your back. You are obligated to be a crab or a guinea fowl. You don’t want to invest too much because the 50% is already killing you. You don’t have anyone telling you, ‘here my friend is a bag of water.’ If you buy everything the guarantee is for the landowner. That is why you become cheap with the farm. You are borrowing money on the rice while it’s still planted, the landowners are not here for that. It’s a tooth for a tooth, eye for an eye, ear for an ear. All the guarantee is for the landowners. They are sitting and waiting on you.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Would anyone else like to add something else? When you ask for help, I want you to be more direct. What would you like for WFP to do for you? Anyone can answer the question. Yes number 5, when you said you need support, what exactly are you asking from WFP to do for the farmers’ association? I want you to be more direct.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Here is what we want form WFP or the government: Give us credit. Give us technical assistance. Because we are useful to the country. We are the engine of the country. A car can’t move without an engine. You can be well dressed but you still need food to eat. Even if you don’t eat now you will need to eat when you get outside. But if there is no food you will not be able to exist because the National Palace doesn’t have a farm inside if it. Instead it has iron. We are the ones who feed the country. The State needs to give us technical assistance. We are poor but with integrity, that is why we are not stealing. Even a dog, if you don’t feed it, it will go to where the food is. That is why many Haitians are dying in the Dominican Republic. They risk their lives because life is hard for them, hard. There are many in Brazil and Chile. We are asking WFP and the Haitian Government to give us credit to work so we can eat, live, and so that we too can send our children to school.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Besides the credit what else? I understand about the credit, you are asking for money to be loaned to the farmers. But besides credit, what else can be done?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). We don’t know the agenda of WFP. If WFP gave us a chart to choose from, we could decide. WFP has not given us a chart to do that. It is only helping us in this case. Because we have a problem, we have a lot of problems. We are in agriculture. If WFP gives us a chart, we will choose which problem we face the most. WFP knows our problems more than we know our own problems. We are here.
Socio-Dig: Ok I agree with you.
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). I want to support what number 5 said. As my colleague said, we need credit to help us. The reason we cause so much damage on the farms is because we don’t have the proper equipment for farming. Such as a roto-tiller, we don’t have one.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Do you understand? I have a handicap, because of my illness. I have been sick for 2 years. I can’t support anything now. I can’t work now, not if I don’t have money to pay someone. For example, for me to work a piece of land now it costs me HTG1400, HTG1800, HTG2000, HTG 2000. You hear me? I must hire people. Do you understand? I am buying days [of work]. Now I have a piece of land, they are asking $20HT [HTG100] per person, $20HT for only 3 hours of work.
[Loud sound of a motorcycle passing by]
It’s only 2 ½ hours they give us. But if we had equipment, if we had equipment we would call an operator to till` the farm for us. We would set the price and our farms would be done. 1 day or ½ day is enough to till a farm but when you a buying an eskwad.[2] Like I said… I’m spending HTG2000. When I tell you that… well, for just one rice paddy, for each harvest, I must spend money. You must cook big meals for them [the workers]. It’s my operation, so I try to negotiate.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Well, I want to tell you also, you know we are working with hoes. We must turn the soil three different times. We give a first one, we give a second one, and then we give a third one. If we had machines it would be one time.
Socio-Dig: Explain that to me. I do not understand.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). We give the land the first cut to decay it. We turn the mud upside down. We turn the land upside down. After that, we do it a second time to loosen the mud. It’s like making a bean sauce; you smash the beans once, a second time, and a third time. But actually, if you had, what is it called? A blender. With a blender, you would blend. You would blend it only once.
Socio-Dig: The land has water?
Public: Yes.
Socio-Dig: You plant rice on it? After the first harvest how long does it take to plant a second harvest?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). The same day.
Socio-Dig: But don’t you need to turn the mud like you said?
Public: It must decay first.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). With a rototiller, you could turn it. It would not take time. What takes time it that you are doing it by hand.
Scoio-Dig: Alright, I want to go back to what you said before. I apologize, I don’t know much about rice production. When you said it needs to be decay, why does it need to decay?
#5: The soil, like a mango, it needs to be ripe. You see a green mango is not the same as a ripe mango. You will see that the ripe mango is more delicate. When its green, it takes more strength.
Socio-Dig: Alright. Why don’t you speak too sir? I don’t know why you are not participating too. I don’t like that, everything you say is important. I would like for you to speak because we want to hear what you have to say too.
#3: (Male; 62 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 5 children; No child in the program). My name is BLANK. For the soil to decay, when you cut the reeds, you leave them on the soil. Now the reeds will go under the soil. Now, after the reeds decompose under the soil, you will turn the soil. Then you will be at the stage when you poke [plant] the rice. Again, you stir the soil. And again, you leave it laying there. Now, again the reeds are starting to decompose. They decay again. Now on the third stirring of the soil you will start poking [planting] the rice. A third time. Now the soil is how you need it to be. It’s like a porridge. Now you are walking around poking the rice.
Socio-Dig: Hmm, ok. Is that what we call fertilizer?
Public: Yes, it becomes like a fertilizer. But we don’t burn the reeds. We put them under the soil.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). As for a conclusion, when the poking is done with your fingers the soil can’t be hard.
Socio-Dig: I was about to ask you that question.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program): Because it can’t he hard. Like you see here when you are poking with your fingers, you will not have these. [Holds his fingers up]. It will eat your finger if the soil is not liquid. If it’s not liquid, the soil will eat all of that. It will eat it, it will eat it, and you will not be able to work. It will peel your skin off…
Socio-Dig: Ok. How long does this process take?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). The process will depend on your means. People don’t have the means. Its only you. As for the work, if we have people helping us, it can be done faster. But if you are by yourself, you start this and you put it down to start something else. You will take more time. Because you don’t have the means, you go from this to that. Some people who have the means take 3 days to finish. So, for you, you spend two or three weeks. Because you are alone. And people will not come here if you don’t feed them.
Socio-Dig: What is the name for the people you hire to work for you? How much money do you pay them?
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Daily workers.
Socio-Dig: How much do pay them?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). In the past, it was $10HT [HTG50], $15HT [HTG75]. It’s $20HT [HTG100] now. For 2½, hours, 2½ . If the person is your people, he will give you 3 hours. You need to pay them on site.
Public: They are all over you. You must pay them automatically, as soon as they are finished. [Laughter].
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). As for us, as for my wife, often she doesn’t have anything left [no profit] after she sells the rice. Yes, she’s left standing there with her arms crossed.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Talking about that, what role do your wives play in the rice production?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Well, when we don’t have much debt, you can have 1 or 3 bucket left, she will steam it and sell it to pay for the children’s school fees. But some days my wife is left standing there with her arms crossed.
Public: Laughter
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Since you have debt, you spend all the money. Everything is gone. You are left with zero.
Public: Laughter
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Sometimes after you finish harvesting, you go and work for another farmer to feed your home. You have nothing
#3: (Male; 62 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 5 children; No child in the program). When the children are hungry, when they are back from school, you must feed them. You must feed your wife as well.
Socio-Dig: Do you have agronomists who pass through the area to visit your land for you?
Public: Yes, they pass. Sometimes they pass for fun and do nothing.
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). They used to plant, but now they don’t do that anymore.
Socio-Dig: Is there a nursery in this area?
Public: Yes, we are poking the rice now. We are poking rice now.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Let’s go back to the women. I work with women and their role is very important to me
Public: [Laughter]. They are our mothers.
Socio-Dig: Do the women also plant rice or do they poke the rice too. What is the women’s role? Number 3.
#3: (Male; 62 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 5 children; No child in the program). Some planted in the past, but they don’t plant anymore.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). The problem with the women, they are giving birth to children. It’s very cold. She can’t go inside the paddies to work. Well, the person is a woman and she is very fragile. We must protect them. There are some women who could do it, but to protect them we don’t let our women do it. It must be the men who work morning and afternoon in the cold. Do you understand? That is, we must protect our women, by not letting them do that type of work.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#3: (Male; 62 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 5 children; No child in the program). There are some places women can’t reach in the paddies. It’s too deep. It’s so deep the women can’t go there.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Yes, number 1.
#1: (Male; 53 years old; Farmer; None; 1 child; No child in the program). Even us men [Laughter]. sometimes you get inside the paddies, if you were not a real man you wouldn’t be able to come out. [Laughter] It’s very deep. You could get in and someone must pull you out.
Socio-Dig: Pull you out!
#7: (Male; 20 years old; Farmer; 4th grade; 2 children; No child in the program). Or I throw a rope to you. It’s a misery.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Hey hostess, I am putting cards on the table for you. Ok? We have an activity here that is called “eel.” Have you heard of eel?
Socio-Dig: Yes, I have heard of eel but I haven’t seen them yet?
#5: Yes. It’s a very profitable activity. Now you don’t find people working the land anymore
Socio-Dig: They are very small fish people fish for to sell?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). It has destroyed our agriculture. I will give you all the details. It has destroyed our economy. We don’t find workers anymore. We are the ones left out, that is why we are still here. [Laughter]. We are left out. If we had the means we wouldn’t be here now. All the workers now are fishing for eel. In one night, a person can two, three, or four thousand dollars (HT) fishing. Some don’t fish, but they have people fishing for them, so they can sleep. Us, we can’t go to sleep because we have our problems. We are in the wrong place. That is why we are isolated. We can’t find workers. We must do it ourselves.
Socio-Dig: Are there women in the association?
Public: Yes, there are women.
Socio-Dig: Ok, there are women. Are your wives selling to ROPANIP or are you selling to ROPANIP?
Public: Laughter
#3: (Male; 62 years old; Farmer; Preparatory 1; 5 children; No child in the program). Our wives come with the blanket [to lay the rice on] and we cut the rice. [Laughter] Our wives measure the rice. We beat [winnow] the rice. They do the trading with ROPANIP and give the amount to be paid by ROPANIP. If we owe other buyers, they give them rice. So ROPANIP will not get all of it. If we had to take a small percentage as a loan from the buyers to feed ourselves during the work, we must pay them back. [Laughter]
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Well, as for me, when I harvest my wife takes responsibility. It doesn’t mean she is in charge of everything. We put our heads together to make it work. My wife does her part and I do my part. We do it together. If two people are together they need to understand each other. Well, each meets the other, to have unity, to go forward.
Socio-Dig: Thank you. I have one last question to ask you and then we will finish. Maybe you have something else to add. Do you understand the objective of the program? Do you understand the program?
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Number 6. We can’t understand it unless someone explains it to us.
Socio-Dig: What did they tell you about the program?
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). They simply explained to us that it is an NGO that comes to Haiti to give aid in feeding school children. Sometimes children left home in the morning without eating a meal. Understand? That is what they told us. Well, I don’t follow or attend their meetings. Do you understand? That is what we know. They don’t come here and tell us exactly what they do.
Ok. From what you were told, as farmers, do you appreciate the work? Do you think the program is a good program?
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). It is a good program because they are helping us. Especially for the children. Sometimes they leave home without eating and when they arrive they receive substance, they receive food. And it helps us. It helps us as parents. Sometimes the parent doesn’t have anything at all to give to the children. Do you understand? But when they arrive in school they will get something to eat. To me this a great thing.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program): A program is not good if it doesn’t get to the people. If the program does what it has said it would do, it is good. I believe that WFP provides different types of food for all the schools. As for me, if WFP has another idea, we don’t know about it. I appreciate that because I am a Haitian citizen. WFP is doing it for Haiti, it’s not doing it someplace else. It’s for our children, our friends, and our ancestors. WFP is helping. I really appreciate that.
Socio-Dig: Ok, thank you.
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Well, if it was a foreign food, well, after some time it would cause a problem. Understand? Make people sick. But, it’s local food they are feeding the children. I appreciate that a 100 percent. Normally, WFP is helping. It’s helping our bodies to be healthy. Do you understand? I adopt it. My friends and I really appreciate WFP. Even though I don’t have children in the program, I have neighbors who have children in the program. I really appreciate it.
Socio-Dig: How many of you have children in the program?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). WFP has a limited presence in this community.
Socio-Dig: The program is not in the community?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). It has not reached here yet.
Socio-Dig: Will it reach here?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). It must come here. We are giving food for Petite Riviere de Nippes, but it has not arrived here yet. WFP needs to come here too because we are giving WFP food. Take notes for us.
Public: Laughter
Socio-Dig: That is why we are asking the question.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Yes, it’s not here yet. WFP must come here [Laughter] because WFP is not yet ours.
Ok. Another question for you. But you kind-of already answered it. Are there more advantages with ROPANIP or more disadvantages? What is the good and the bad of working with WFP?
#5: I haven’t seen it. I don’t have a mind that can give a calculation to criticize WFP. If WFP could give more than a 100%, it would have done so. WFP went beyond that because it has done all it said it would do. My friend, if I had a crown, I would crown WFP for its great work.
Public: Laughter
Ok. Thank you. Does that mean you are selling more to ROPANIP than at the local market?
#5: Well, I will say again, because WFP wants something that is natural with no faults, and something that is specially selected, but the local market will take anything…. I have to tell you, the rice sometimes stinks at the local market. You can’t even take the smell. It’s wet sometimes. As for us, we provide WFP with a good product. We like selling to WFP more because our brothers’ children are eating it. We see it is necessary to sell to WFP.
Socio-Dig: Ok. I want to thank you for today but I have one last question. Do you eat imported rice?
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Well, when we are hungry we eat a couple of spoonfuls [Laughter]. Hunger makes us eat it, but it’s not our food. Ours is better.
Socio-Dig: Is it not your food? Ok.
Public: [Laughter]. When we are hungry we eat it.
Socio-Dig: We want to thank everyone here, I don’t know if you would like to add something else. We are done for today. Maybe there are some places you would like us to see. We have several other places to go today.
#5: (Male; 50 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; No child in the program). Well, my only critique to you, umm, is you took us by surprise coming here.
Socio-Dig: That’s true. But to give you an answer about why we came without making plans with you is that we didn’t have any contact. We were told to come here, find rice farmers, and talk to them. That is why we ask for your phone numbers, so next time we can contact you from Port-au-Prince in advance.
Public: Agreed
#6: (Male; 66 years old; Farmer, Pastor; 6th grade; 3 children; No child in the program). It was around 9:00 PM I saw you calling me.
Socio-Dig: Yes, that is what happened. We had some numbers we called them but we could get in touch with them.
Public: Ahh. Ok, ok.
Yes, but next time it will not be like this.
Public: Yes.
Focus Group #3: Rural Parents and Members of School Kitchen Committee (Cholèt)
Focus Group conducted: 03/29/2017
Date transcript 04/07 / 2017- 04/17/2017
Interviewers
Almathe Jean: Female, 28 years of age, 0 children, Focus Group supervisor.
Natacha: Female, 28 years of age, no children, focus group leader and surveyor.
Jackly: Male, 33 years of age, 2 children, Survey supervisor and focus group leader.
Participants
#1: Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen
#3: Female; 38 years old; Market woman; 3rd grade; 7 children; 6 children in program
#5: Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen
#6: Female; 35 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 3 children in program
#7: Female; 53 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 6 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen
#8: Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program
#10: Female; 38 years old; Market woman; 3rd grade; 5 children; 3 children in program
FOCUS GROUP TRANSCRIPTION
Socio-Dig (Almathe): Good afternoon, everybody.
Public: Good afternoon, good afternoon.
Socio-Dig (Almathe): Thank you so much. It looks like there are people at my back.
Public: Let’s organize ourselves. Come here. Put it so. Perhaps they can sit there. They can sit there.
[Loud sound of the chairs and those who arrange the benches and chairs that are speaking in the room]
Socio-Dig (Almathe): Ok. We thank you all for your presence. Many of you did not know that we were going to be here. That means you were doing something and you must have left it to come here.
My name is Almathe. We work with an organization called Socio-Dig. We conduct research for NGOs. Right now, we are conducting a study for WFP. It is WFP that finances the school canteens. What are doing is passing by places to talk with parents. We also talk to teachers and cooks. Today we have a few questions to ask. You have a number in your hands …. And we have this device to record everything you say because we are going to write a report to give to WFP to share what you have to say.…Are we clear?
Public: Yes, yes.
Socio-Dig (Almathe): I have given you my name. I am going to let Natacha introduce herself.
Socio-Dig (Natacha): Good afternoon, everybody.
Public: Good afternoon, Good afternoon
Socio-Dig (Natacha): I’m Natacha. I work with Socio-Dig. Today we represent WFP with school canteens. We have our brother Jackly. I am going to let him introduce himself.
Socio-Dig (Jackly): Good afternoon everybody.
Public: Good afternoon, Good afternoon
Socio-Dig (Jackly): I’m Beautelus Jackly. We work for a company, like the lady explained, it is a research company. But actually, we are doing this work for WFP as part of the school canteen program.
Socio-Dig: We thank you and we are happy to be here with you this afternoon to talk…. The questions are easy to answer. They are not difficult.
Well, let us get started. As parents, do all of you have children in schools where they have a canteen?
Public: yessss
Socio-Dig: As parents does the program work? [Voice children playing] Do not forget those who respond should say their number and then answer the question. You don’t need to mention your name. Just say the number you have in your hands.
[Silence ….]
Socio-Dig: Yes, no problem. Anyone can answer. As parents, how do you see this program? How does it help you as parents?
#7: (Female; 53 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 6 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). I see that is good.
Socio-Dig: Yes number 7
#7: (Female; 53 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 6 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Yes, good, because sometimes the children go to school without eating. Now, when they reach school, they are going to get fed. It’s very good.
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Yes. Food is useful to the children. It is useful to me because after the hurricane, you know there are problems and misery. All our gardens are destroyed, we have nothing. But when the children go to school, they get fed. That is quite good. But the only thing is the food is too small.
Socio-Dig: Ok the food is too small.
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). It is too small… They give an amount to cook. They say a marmite for 40 children. It should have been cooked for 20 children. A marmite of rice is for 20 children. And you know children from countryside eat a lot. It is like a snack for them. If they could have given them enough to sustain them, it would have been much better.
Socio-Dig: That means you have a food ration. This means they say how much rice a child can eat per day. So, yourself, you ask if they could raise the ration it would be good. You are number 5? Ok, no problem. Is WFP making that decision or are the school directors making these decisions?
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). WFP made them. Every last Friday of the month they [the schools] must send a report to them [WFP]. Is the food not cooked… or something else…?
Socio-Dig: Ok, right.
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). WFP provides food. Sometimes the children go to school. You as parents, you do not have a cent. Did they have the right to send the child back for the 5 Goud food fee and not allow the child to eat? That is what I see as a problem in the canteen right here. If the child goes to school and does not have the 5 Goud they will send him back home. It is not every morning that you are going to have the money. Do they need to send the child back home for that?
Socio-Dig: Ok, this means that if the child does not give 5 Goud they are going to send him back home or not feed him?
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). They are not going to feed him. They send him back home.
[noise of bench in the room]
Socio-Dig: As a parent what do you think can fix this problem? How can the children get a meal even when they do not have the 5 Goud?
#3: (Female; 38 years old; Market woman; 3rd grade; 7 children; 6 children in program). This means money. For the money problem, they could have supported us. Because sometimes, we may not have the money, but we want to pay it.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Five Goud is normal. The children should give it, because we use that money to buy condiments to make the food. We see this school, the school of Mr. BLANK does not take money from children….
#3: (Female; 38 years old; Market woman; 3rd grade; 7 children; 6 children in program). Who is helping you?
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Myself and the one who gives the condiments. You see what I am telling you? So we contribute to buy them [the condiments] to cook for the children.
Socio-Dig: Number 6.
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). But the child must be given 5 Goud. Or we do not know what WFP could do to help them, because they may not have 5 Goud.
#3: (Female; 38 years old; Market woman; 3rd grade; 7 children; 6 children in program). We may have a day where we do not even have 5 Goud to even buy a piece of bread. We can pay per month and when the month is over we do not have money to pay. To send the child back home, I think the child can stay at school. They don’t have to feed him, but do not make him lose the entire day of school.
Socio-Dig: Are all the local schools like this or is it only the one?
Public: No, no. Not all.
Socio-Dig: Not all?
Public: No, no. Not all.
#6: (Female; 35 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 3 children in program). It’s only the one school that does not send children back home.
Socio-Dig: How is the school called?
#3: (Female; 38 years old; Market woman; 3rd grade; 7 children; 6 children in program). SCHOOL_1.
Public: Only that one school provides food and does not send the children back home for money, that one and SCHOOL_2.
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Then other schools, if the child does not give the money, they send them back home.
Socio-Dig: Yes.
#7: (Female; 53 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 6 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). I hear what people say, I congratulate Mrs. BLANK too. I am responsible for storage. I play many roles… I am taking care of other things as well. Sometimes what you give to the children is good, but it is too small. It is not sufficient for the children. I know that sometimes the parents may not have 5 Goud. It can happen … But I put pressure on myself to help others. To see children missing out on the food, that touches me to the bottom of my heart.
We also encourage them to give the 5 Goud. But there are a bunch negligent parents. Some of them do not have the money, but if you are selling in the market every day, you have it most of the time.
The agronomist comes and asks us to take 5 Goud from the children. There are some parents who may not have it. Since after the hurricane, the parents find themselves in an especially difficult situation. I do not know how WFP makes its decisions, but there is a reason why they say parents should give 5 Goud. Here are the reasons: People who cook they spend a lot of time at the school. Sometimes we collect 5 Goud just to pay them. It is a small amount of money for this service they give us. It is a small amount of money so that they can buy soap to wash their clothes.
It is not fair that we must ask them for the 5 Goud. [They should just give it]. But if they do not have the money we cannot beat them up. Shall we say we will not feed their children or should we send the children home? WFP and BND do not tell us to send the children back home. If a school decides to send the children home, myself as a parent will go to the school to ask them why they sent the child home. But as you can see, those people who are willing to send the children back home are not surprised to see that they are wasting food every day. They just do not like sharing. If you have the spirit of sharing you will not send a child home. They give you something to give [WFP gives food to share] …. I do not like this. It’s not good, not good. This is all I have to say.
Socio-Dig: Thank you number 8. We understand regarding the 5 Goud that many parents do not have it. But as parents how could you help the school? How could you help the schools in a way that would help children get the food without giving the 5 Goud?
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). I helped out at SCHOOL_1. I spent 1 year and 4 months giving them services. I did not ask them for money. Now I’ve stopped providing services. I spent 1 year and 4 months giving them my strength and energy. I used to pay every month but sometimes I do not have the 5 Goud. When I do not have the 5 Goud. I worry they are going to send the children home. That gives me problem. When I do not have it, they are not supposed to send my children home.
[Noise in the room, children are shouting.]
Socio-Dig: Well, let’s talk about another subject. As parents how does the canteen help you financially? What other ways can the canteen help you?
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). It helps me. I may wake up and decide to not cook. When my children get to school they get fed. It helps me, it helps me.
Socio-Dig: How many children do you have in school?
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). 5 children, I have 5 children in school.
Socio-Dig: If you wake up today, you do not cook for your children, it does not matter because you know they are going to eat?
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). Yes, there is no problem, I know they are going to eat. Now, I am going to focus on getting food for the afternoon meal.
Socio-Dig: Before children go to school in the morning, what do you give them before they go?
Public: We give them whatever we have, whatever you have. Like coffee and bread. Sometimes I make corn with spinach before they go to school.
Socio-Dig: You just give them food. Number 8
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). Some people agree to help you. But there are some who are disagree. They always say…
[ Phone is ringing.]
We need to give them at least a small salary. Some parents try to understand that they have their children at school and it may not be able to give 5 Goud…But the cooks are expecting to receive something every month. That is who the money supposed to be for. And on top of this we need money to buy condiments. We need money to buy them. If WFP does us the favor of giving food, we as parent should manage to get it cooked. When the organization gives you something you need to do your best to do the rest.
Some parents want to give the money for their children but they do not have it. After the hurricane things got bad. All the gardens are destroyed. Like plantains, breadfruit. The parents were accustomed to selling these products to get money to pay for the child. It was easy for them to get the 5 Goud. But flooding [from the hurricane] destroyed their yams. You may say, ‘how do they manage to manage to make food for themselves at home,’ but they create a way to make it work. God shows them a way.
Socio-Dig: Thank you, number 8… How many children do you have in a school where there is a canteen?
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). I have three. But it was when they were small. I always put them in school where there is canteen. I had another child, he is my adopted child. I used to pay for him.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). Because there was a professor that did something that pissed me off. I always pay for my child, but he took the food and gave one plate to 2 children. I told him, in my house I feed my children properly. He provided one plate of food for two. I did not like this. …
Socio-Dig: Ok Thank you. Are the schools still receiving food?
Public: Yes, yes, yes.
Socio-Dig: In this sense.
[Sound of something falling on the floor]
Socio-Dig: In this sense, we can see the program is functioning well because the schools always feed the children?
Public: Yes, they are properly functioning.
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Yes Madame. There is something. When the school opens its doors every Monday, they bring you those small sweet potatoes that are not even enough for four children. They may provide small sweet potatoes with six small yams. When you cut them to put them in the pot, you realize that is not enough for even four children. And they say that It should be enough for about 100 children. I think that it’s not enough. When they send the vegetables, they say that it should be enough for two days, Tuesday for vegetables, Thursday for soup, and Wednesday again for vegetables. What they send it is not enough for one day. But what can we do, we must make it last for two days. Even though it is a small thing like this, really, I do not know.
There is something else I wanted to add. I remember a long time ago there was a Catholic priest who had a canteen he called…. He had a canteen, but the kids did not pay. He used to use some of the food to distribute a small amount monthly to the children [to take home]. I do not know what WFP can do [to give more food].
Socio-Dig: To answer to this question, it is a suggestion that we are going to give to WFP. We are going to say to WFP, here are some suggestions given by some parents. That is why we put those devices here…Everything you say, will go directly to the device, it records…
Children receive a daily plate of food. Right? What we call in Haiti salt-food. According to you, as parents, do you think that salt-food is necessary? Or could they give something sweet or something cold? In this case, they might have more for the children, it might be much more for them, they could get more food. Do you understand what I mean?
Let me repeat it if you do not understand?
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). Salt-food, I see it is much better than sweet-food.
Socio-Dig: Number 6 you do not need to nod, you can say that you disagree. Everything you say is important?
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Ma’am?
Socio-Dig: Yes?
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). WFP said after the child had eaten every Thursday, they will give them a glass of milk, they have not done it.
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). I attended training for that.
Socio-Dig: Number 3, what do you think?
#3: (Female; 38 years old; Market woman; 3rd grade; 7 children; 6 children in program). They said every Friday they would give the children milk. They have not done it.
Socio-Dig: Ok. For the milk, we do not know. We are unable to give you an answer. We are going to include that in the report we give to WFP. The question that I ask, about giving the children cold food, what do you think? Something cold that is not a hot plate. There are several things we can provide…A cold entree could be a palm fruit, it could have bananas, pineapples, much more.
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Bread and peanut butter.
Socio-Dig: Bread and peanut butter, cassava! Exactly!
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Is the food going to be produced somewhere else or are people in the area is going to make it?
Socio-Dig: Is there no one in the area that knows how to make cassava?
#7: (Female; 53 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 6 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Yes, there are people in the area who know how to make cassava.
Public: But the cassava tree, the cassava tree….
Socio-Dig: Sorry, I want to clarify something. We do not know the answers. You are the ones who should say what do you think. You can tell us what do you think is the best.
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Cassava, we do not have it. We cannot provide it right now. But other places can…
Socio-Dig: What do you have that children can eat? What things do you have that can be eaten without cooking on the fire?
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). We used to have, we could have bananas. But there are no bananas here [right now]. The hurricane took everything.
Public: Our yam. Children eat bananas and we could make peanut butter. Peanuts are very expensive for us here. A shelled marmite goes for 80 dollars in Miragoâne.
Ok.
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). This question that you ask is important for us… What is important, what is essential, is that there are some things you may not be able to get. Food is very precious to me. For other items, you may need to go to other places to find them. Everything might not be there when you need it. Cassava may not be there when you need it. Rice is consistent, they know when it is going to be ready, we just send for it. But it can happen that you order cassava and it does not come on time. Children will go without eating. I think the food is important, it is more important. You could have chosen to add a glass of milk. Bread, we can find those things easily. If what is easier is to give all the children a glass of milk with bread, the cooks will not complain about salary any more. Myself, these foods would be even more important.
Socio-Dig: I remember that WFP, the program was based on local production. The bread, it does not sound local because the flour is imported, is it not? You understand what I am saying?
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). Well, that’s not agreeable.
Socio-Dig: No, no we did not say it does not agree.
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). WFP wants local production. They’re talking about local food. Some of the local food needs to be immediately available because we are going to need them daily. Consistently, every day. And they need to be on site, in case there is a shortage of the food. I don’t know if everyone agrees with what I am saying? If we cannot get bananas, Matthew went with everything. I know what I am lacking. If they ask for pineapple, it is not going to be easy to find. A marmite of peanuts is expensive. Sometimes we find them. I say the paramount thing is the food. I do not know about the others.
Socio-Dig: Ok, thank you number 8. No one said anything about that yet.
#7: (Female; 53 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 6 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Eh pineapple is a touchy issue. If the child has worms and the child eats it, he is going to get sick. As parents, it is necessary that the child eat something salty before eating something sweet?
Public: Yes, yes, yes, something salty first. Salt-food is the most important thing.
Socio-Dig: Why?
[Noise and silence …]
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). Yes, my grandmother told me this, mainly it is about sweet liquid. Sometimes they make remedies to prevent you from getting sick when you are eating sweets. They boil leaves mixed together. It is a tea that will help your chest. It is bad to take sweets before eating anything salty. You need to drink something salty first.
Socio-Dig: Ok, thank you. Anyone want to add anything? Anyone can talk. You do not want to say anything parents? You do not talk …… ok.
Public: We’re here, we’re here.
Socio-Dig: I have a question that we should have asked you…. Before the canteen came… before the canteen existed, what did you give the children before they went to school? Make a comparison with before canteen was there and the present.
#7: (Female; 53 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 6 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). To be fed to the children in the morning?
Socio-Dig: We are talking about when the canteen was not there versus now.
#7: (Female; 53 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 6 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Before it was here, we cooked and make juice to give them to go to school.
Socio-Dig: So, did you do this every morning for your kids?
#7: (Female; 53 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 6 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Yes, I did.
Socio-Dig: In 5 days of classes, how many days a week did you cook and make juice for them before going to school?
#7: (Female; 53 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 6 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Every school day. But since the canteen is here, we make the food and they do not want it. If you have 10 Goud, you give it to them. For the canteen, you just give 10 dollars, 20 dollars [per month]. When I was late, I did not make anything for him. You gave the child 10 Goud to buy cookies.
Socio-Dig: Ok, we want to hear from another parent again.
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Days ago, before the hurricane, we would wake up in the morning and give the children a small cup of tea before they go to school. We would boil plantains with a little sauce of dry fish. And then we made juice for him. Sometimes, as parent, we may wake up late you do not have enough time to make food. But now, whether you wake up early or not, or whether you do not have anything or not, you have the advantage that they will eat at school.
Socio-Dig: How long have you had school canteens in the area?
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Two years.
Socio-Dig: Two years. You always have food?
Public: Yes, yes, yes, we always get food.
Socio-Dig: You do not sell anything to program?
Public: No, no.
#6: (Female; 35 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 3 children in program). Me, I arrived late [for the focus group]. One of the last directors to come do the focus groups in October, INTEL, he saw the gardens of beans were full and beautiful. He took my contact information, as if when the beans were ripe he would return and buy them from us. Until this day, I haven’t seen him. Me, I could get in contact with him, I would let him know. I will let him know if I should go sell the beans in the market, well…
Socio-Dig: Would you like to sell with to the canteen program?
Public: Yes, yes, yes!
Socio-Dig: What crops do you grow the most here?
Public: Black Beans, peas. They say, ‘don’t put breadfruit in soup.’ But we always put breadfruit in our soup. [Because they have so much of it].
Socio-Dig: Do you see the program is buying only local food? We know that local food sometimes can be more expensive than imported food. Do you think the program should stay with local food or should they buy imported products? Because we know imported food is cheap.
#3: (Female; 38 years old; Market woman; 3rd grade; 7 children; 6 children in program). Local food is better.
Socio-Dig: Why?
#3: (Female; 38 years old; Market woman; 3rd grade; 7 children; 6 children in program). Because the food is from our country and it has more vitamins.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Imported food has chemicals in. It is not good for our health. Local food is the best.
Socio-Dig: Number 1 are you saying something?
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). No. What I would say, she already said it.
Socio-Dig: Ok … Number 8. We like it when several people say the same thing. It sounds better than when only one person says it.
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). Non. Regarding imported food, especially if we were to say that we do not use imported food, we would be lying to ourselves. Especially regarding carrots and cabbage. We say they are local products. But they have something they put on them. Fertilizer. Fertilizer is something that is made with chemicals. Even carrots. The way Haitians love carrots, but they are produced by putting fertilizer on them. Cabbage, they put fertilizer on it. Doesn’t that have a consequence? Especially for us. We are based on local production. Even some yams, there are yams that don’t produce well and so they put fertilizer on them. What is a local product that has no fertilizer on it? I would say that it’s fruit. Maybe, I would say that among them, …. I don’t know if the rice is local rice. Because they give imported rice more prestige than our rice. That’s what has finished with our production. In this context, what I would say for manioc is that sometimes you see what you have planted begins to diminish. Some people say it’s what they put on the soil [fertilizer] that has caused the yields to diminish. And what you did the other day… You don’t know the sheer amount of manioc people have. I know I can find manioc in great quantities. But then again, you might not find any. What I need to say again, eh, especially stew, we feel that really does us bad when the man brings it…. We use it. We even put carrots in the stew. They put cabbage in it. In this way, we do three things. We have a lot of children we’re taking care of, either we have 100 children, or we have 80 children. My goodness, to see them. The woman already said that we only get a small quantity of sweet potato to put in the stew. After the children have finished eating, they’re not full. There are children who eat at school, when they get home they don’t need anything. Myself, I will tell you this without hiding anything, I have two boys. These two children don’t get fed. You’ve seen when chicks are sad? People who care for chickens, as soon as they see that [that the chicks are sad], they don’t need to know neither 2 nor 3 what’s wrong with them, they’re hungry, that’s what’s wrong with them. But if you say that the thing you are thinking about, that it is cassava that you’re going to give us, that’s what you’ll be giving us one day, if you’re thinking for us, to think… [Not clear what the respondent is saying. Trails off into the following.]
Here is what the Women [from Socio-Dig] wants to tell us. People who can help you, especially with the food, the women said this, ‘how is WFP going to help us with this’? WFP will let us manage on our own. When you see, someone suffering, you give to them. You say it’s to help them. But how is WFP going to help you [meaning how are they going to help the cooks]? My goodness. They’ve already told you they cannot. How are they going to help you there? But when you say someone is suffering, how are they going to help you help them? Are they going to give you some of the food they send [for the children]? The way the woman just said, so that when they come to cook the food they do not complain.
Socio-Dig: Ok, thank you Number 8. You spoke, you said that around here you have black beans and breadfruit. If WFP decided that they wanted to buy black beans from you, how would you do that?
#10: (Female; 38 years old; Market woman; 3rd grade; 5 children; 3 children in program). I think that the way that BND and WFP have a committee that goes around and buys, and since it’s already in place, the same way there is a kitchen committee or a parental committee, they will come to where we are. If it’s two or three people who make up the committee, they’ll go to the market, check the prices. I don’t know if it’s WFP or BND that goes and buys the beans to brings to us. Ourselves, with respect to the price, this committee is going to get the price from the market. Right now, a price of butter beans sells for 75 dollars [Haitian dollars = 375 Goud]. Black beans were selling for 70 dollars [Haitian dollars = 350 Goud], and just went up past 80 dollars [400 Goud]. If, in the place where they buy it, they do not have to pay for transport to bring it here, it’s the same price around here, according to me.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Is there anyone who would like to add anything more? This lady here, Number 1, you said that sometimes they send the children home because you don’t give 5 Goud, true? Would you feel comfortable going to the school director and discussing that with him?
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). The school director?
Socio-Dig: Yes
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). No, I would never do that?
Socio-Dig: Why would you never do that?
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). I’ll try to get the 5 Goud. Because it’s two years that I’m going to meetings about the money, where they talk about what must be done, how to manage the children. If I’m involved, we send the children home. I have a right to do that if you never pay. You have a right to send them home. But what can happen is that I don’t have any money; in this case, you shouldn’t send the children home.
Socio-Dig: So, I’m clear on this, I’m not sending you to speak to the school director. I’m asking you, as parents, if you would be comfortable going to the director and discussing a problem like this with him?
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). Our director, before school opened, he held a seminar with us who work in the kitchen.
Socio-Dig: I’m asking you, as parents do you feel comfortable going to the school director and discussing your child’s situation?
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). Yes, if they send my child back home, I must go to the director to know why he sent him home. We always go to the director.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#10: (Female; 38 years old; Market woman; 3rd grade; 5 children; 3 children in program). Like the way the woman just said, in the morning, I personally have two children. I must make some bread and coffee for them because they’re small. They can’t wait for the cooked food. And I have a young daughter too. She’s already told me that she won’t go to school if she hasn’t eaten. That’s right, she won’t go. She’s assured me that she won’t go. This means that I have this demand. I went to the committee and I informed them that parents should pay but that the school administration did not have a right to send children home. Because the food is for them [the children]. Parents must take responsibility and pay for the food [the fuel and cook]. It’s aid that they’re giving you. And you, you must pay your part. There are people who refuse to budge, they never do anything at all to help.
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). WFP did not say did not say that parents should not be paid for making food. WFP didn’t say that.
Socio-Dig: Ok. We are almost finished. I’m going to ask one last question about the director or teachers at the school.
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). You may ask the question. I’ll respond.
Socio-Dig: Do teachers working in the countryside get paid for teaching school?
#6: (Female; 35 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 3 children in program). They do not get paid, no. Not getting paid has made them neglect the students. They don’t work with them. They never get paid.
Socio-Dig: What makes them not get paid?
#6: (Female; 35 years old; Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 3 children in program). I don’t know, no.
Socio-Dig: But you hear them complaining about how they never get paid?
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). Yes, if you’re talking about making money, I would never choose to work with children. But because you said yes, you entered an agreement, you can’t change your mind and say no. You accept it for the year you work. I work with a class of students. I can’t say that I’m not coming to work. I must be there, consistently, every day, whether I get paid or not. Sometimes we get a little change. Sometimes we don’t’ get it. That can happen. But you can’t get discouraged with the children. It’s not the children who are creating the problem. If a teacher chooses to teach, he agrees to work for the children. And now he’s going to strike? If you do this you don’t work for the children, you’re doing violence to them. The children don’t know anything about all this [the salaries]. The person who is responsible says, ‘here is what can happen next year, but the way things are right now I just can’t do pay you anything’ [the director says this to keep the teachers working]. I have my children in a school, a teacher agrees to work with them, and now you make them lose a year of school? I’m going to show you I’m not happy with you. Because you agreed. If you did not agree, you wouldn’t come to work. Because you accepted, you must come to work. You, you’re supposed to be the teacher, but during the year you see things are not good and you stop teaching? But the children, my goodness, he passes the 1st trimester, the 2nd trimester, and then the 3rd trimester is about to start and maybe he’s going to advance another year, and now you don’t come to school to teach him. What have you done? The parents already spent money for the year. If they didn’t find the money today, he’s got to find it no matter what to pay for the uniform. They must find money to pay for shoes, to pay for books and notebooks. And then the teacher doesn’t’ come to school to work with him. Is that not a meanness you’ve done the children. I’m number 8. I’m a parent, and I’m a teacher for the 5th and 6th grade. Thank you.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Teacher, another little question I would like to ask before we finish. On average, how much does a teacher make around here? Average. I didn’t say exactly, No. On average?
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). Well, on average you can say 400. Most could make 500 or 600. If the school has no aid.
Socio-Dig: All the class, or each class has its price.
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). Each class doesn’t pay, ah, well, ok, thanks [laughs]. There are not four schools around here like that. Only us. For little pre-school children, they can pay a little money. For other classes, they start at 1st grade and go to 6th grade. They don’t pay a Gourd. The only thing they pay is the money for paper, money for notebooks and money for the canteen. When they ask them, they pay. After that, they don’t pay a Gourd. There are other places I know, ah, they aren’t like that. They don’t have what we’re talking about, children coming to school for free. Education isn’t free. That’s what I know regarding other places.
Socio-Dig: Ok. For this area, the government pays teachers?
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). No, it’s the director who makes and effort to see what he can do.
Socio-Dig: If the director is not getting money from the parents, where does he get the money to pay the teachers?
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). The directors [often] don’t get paid by the parents. Sometimes they ask others for help. When you see bands of children walking in the savanna [meaning they are not in school] …. Even the State, which began the program of ‘free education for all’, it got going and then began to show everyone it was broke. The State is responsible for 5th and 6th grade. I believe it’s those two classes. As soon as they declared they are responsible for the children, with ‘free education for all’, schooling didn’t pay anymore. But with the SIGO program [PSUGO, the State’s free education], the State did not say, ‘don’t pay for school.’ This woman has 5 children. If a school said pay for the children, you know that would be very difficult. You have 5 children in school, you must buy uniforms and do everything.
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). She would pay, yes. It’s education that you’re giving her children.
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). No, no, no. It’s an example I’m making with you. I’m not saying you don’t pay, no. It’s an example.
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). I would try.
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). Exactly. You say that parents should make an effort. But you hear them tell me, ‘I’m not going to send my children to that school because you have to pay for the school.’ But when people take the children and go somewhere else they learn that they will have to pay no matter what. I don’t know if you have anything else you would like to say to me?
#1: (Female; 35 years old; Market woman; 2nd grade; 5 children; 5 children in program; worked 1 year 4 months in school kitchen). Parents yes. The State does not pay the teachers. How is the director going to pay you?
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). You can’t find money, no. That’s what I’m telling you. You don’t earn money for the year. But you can’t leave people’s children like that. You agreed to work them. Is that not so Mrs. BLANK_K?
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). No, I don’t agree with you, no.
Public: No, no, we don’t agree. No. We don’t agree with what you’re saying.
Socio-Dig: Number five.
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). A hungry stomach is no fun. You, you’re a teacher. Since the month of September until today they have not paid you. Do you come to work? I wouldn’t come.
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). Mrs. BLANK_K. Mrs. BLANK_K, listen, I’ll give you a response. What I said to you is something that I said to clear. You see me, I know they responded, they said they would give us something. I received it twice. [this must be a reference to the State PSUGO program, but not clear]. I know that in some schools, others didn’t get anything at all. I received it twice, but you know that other times I didn’t get anything and I accepted it. I take on a responsibility, [it doesn’t pay], and sometimes I find other opportunities. But I stick with my obligations to the school. If someone is only working at school, I agree with you Mrs. BLANK_K. If someone is only working at school, my goodness, it is not easy. But what if all the school teachers were to say they would not come to teach anymore? When they get to Little River, they must cross the river, that’s a big task. I think I’ve spoken enough. If you have any more questions for me I’ll wait.
Socio-Dig: We’ve finished with the question. We can give you a couple of minutes to see if you have anything more to say about WFP.
#8: (Male; 45 years old; Teacher, Carpenter; 11th Grade; 3 children; 2 children in program). Thank you for hearing me. I’m very happy. I say thank you to Jackly (of Socio-Dig) who came to find us so that we could talk. Courage.
Socio-Dig: Thank you very much. Is there anyone else who would like to say a final word?
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). We say thank you to WFP.
Public: Thank you. Thank WFP. I hope their work goes even farther.
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). I would like to know if, after the food it gives, can PAM give the school anything more?
Socio-Dig: For example?
#5: (Female; 45 years old; Market woman; 9th grade; 2 children; 2 children in program; works in school kitchen). Like give you some benches, some books. I don’t know.
Socio-Dig: OK. We say thank you to everyone. We are going to close now. We have some cookies here. …
Focus Group # 4: School Directors and Teachers
Date conducted: 3/27/2017
Date of transcription: 4/06/2017- 4/20/2017
Date of translation: 4/20/2017- 4/28/2017
Interviewers
Almathe Jean: Female, 28 years of age, 0 children, Focus Group supervisor.
Natacha: Female, 28 years of age, no children, focus group leader and surveyor.
Jackly: Male, 33 years of age, 2 children, Survey supervisor and focus group leader.
Participants
#1: BLANK_E; Male; 57 years old; School director, oversees canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program
#3: BLANK_C; Female; 43 years old; School teacher; Philo; 1 child; 1 child in the program
#5: BLANK_F; Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program
#6: BLANK_A; Female; 46 years old; School teacher; Rheto; 1 child; 1 child in the program
#-9: BLANK_D; Female; 31 years old; School teacher; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program
#10: BLANK_B; Male; 51 years old; School director, oversee canteen; 11th grade; 6 children; 6 children in the program
FOCUS GROUP
Socio-Dig (Almathe): Good afternoon everyone.
Public: Good afternoon.
Socio-Dig (Almathe): I thank you all for coming here. Many of you did not know about this meeting. My name is Almathe. I work for a firm. We do research all over Haiti. For now, we are working for WFP. WFP hired us to a research and conduct some focus groups about the school feeding program. The focus groups are being done with farmers, parents, teachers and school directors. We have some important points that we would like to talk about. We would like to hear what the teachers and the directors have to say about the program. Everything you say is important to us. We want everybody to participate. I will let Natacha introduce herself and then everyone will introduce themselves too.
Socio-Dig (Natacha): Ok. Good afternoon!
Public: Good afternoon.
Socio-Dig (Natacha): I am happy to be here with you. My name is Natacha. As Almathe said, we work with a firm called Socio-Dig. Today we represent WFP and the school feeding program. I will let my co-worker introduce himself to you.
Socio-Dig (Jackly): Good afternoon everybody!
Public: Good afternoon.
Socio-Dig (Jackly): My name is Jackly. I work for SOCIODIG. But we are doing this work for WFP, that’s the World Food Program. As you already know we had a previous meeting with the school directors before. This is a follow up meeting. It was done in October and this is just a follow up. As they mentioned already, we are going to discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of the school feeding program. You are free to express yourself however you like. We will let this lady continue with the presentation.
Socio-Dig (Almathe): One more thing please. Because of the noise of the generator, if you could speak a little bit louder it will help us to hear you better.
#6: (Female; 46 years old; School teacher; Rheto; 1 child; 1 child in the program). Good afternoon. My name is BLANK_A. I am working at SCHOOL_1 in the kindergarten class.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Continue.
#10: (Male; 51 years old; School director, oversees canteen; 11th grade; 6 children; 6 children in the program). Ok. My name is BLANK_B I am the school supervisor [at SCHOOL_1] and I’m also responsible for managing the school storage. My number is 10.
Socio-Dig: Thank you.
#3: (Female; 43 years old; School teacher; Philo; 1 child; 1 child in the program). My name is BLANK_C I am a teacher of SCHOOL_1. I teach preparatory 1. My number is 3.
Socio-Dig: Thank you.
#9: (Female; 31 years old; School teacher; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). My name is BLANK_D I am a teacher at SCHOOL_2. I teach 5th and 6th grade. My number is 9.
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). My name is BLANK E I am the administrator, manager, and founder of SCHOOL_2. My number is 1
Socio-Dig: What number does he have?
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). My name is BLANK F (Someone is coughing.) I am the director of the SCHOOL_3. My number is 5.
Socio-Dig: Alright, thank you. We have these 3 participants who are from the same school. In each school how does the school feeding program work? For example, number 5, how does it work in your school?
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). In my school, I can say the school feeding program works good. Except for some problems we are facing. For example, I have a problem where students do not want to participate in paying the fee for the food to be made. And normally as you know, we cannot send the children back home because of the fee for the school lunch. Although we applied all kind of strategies, the children keep refusing to pay. And we realized some parents don’t have enough to pay for the children.
Normally, my school is in isolated area which is different from schools which are in town. There are some parents who have around 4 to 7 children in the school. When we ask for participation they cannot pay it. This is why when it comes to spending money to buy ingredients for the food to be cooked we are obliged to borrow money. For example, we are at the end of March, our cooks have not been getting anything since December. It has been 3 months. This is our biggest problem. Secondly, even to buy wood to cook is a problem. Do you understand? They used to give us briquettes, but we don’t get them anymore. That has caused a lot of problems. The biggest problem is there is no fund to move the program forward. But for the other points, we can say that everything is set up for the free lunch to function well. But if the school feeding program continues like this, I guarantee you that we won’t be able to keep it. Because I will be borrowing all the time for the lunch to be cooked.
Socio-Dig: Alright thank you. Number 1.
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). I want to say: Good afternoon everybody. Would you allow me to do a little introduction?
Socio-Dig: No problem. We need that…
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). First of all, we thank WFP, ROPANIP, and BND, the team that is working for the school feeding program. We are satisfied with the team. They give local products. It is a great satisfaction. Because they could give food us lousy imported foods. It is wrong for the children. The local foods have vitamins and protein for the children and that allows for school performance to be raised. And there is something that used to happen in Petite Riviere every Friday, it seems there was a devil eating the students [meaning that many students would not come to school on Friday]. We are happy when there is free lunch. All the children come to school. Performance improves. The parents are relieved when they know the children are going to find something to eat in the school. They don’t have to find something to give them in the morning. When the children come back in the afternoon, they know that the children have already found something to eat during the day. They only have to plan for the night, to find something to give them so that they can study and the teachers won’t have too much problem with them the next day. Because they know these children can find food to eat. So, they cannot come to tell the teachers that they are hungry and they could not study, ‘Teacher I was hungry.’ Everything about the feeding program is good.
Socio-Dig: Yes. Continue.
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). However, as teacher BLANK_F said, each school has its own problems. Although some of them have the same ones. For example, I heard teacher BLANK_X saying that he has problems finding firewood…the city schools do not have the same problems.
[someone else is speaking, and there is a loud noise of something being hit].
For example, the person who is fetching wood for BLANK SCHOOL_B is from Sileg. When he comes with the wood we sign a contract with him for 300 dollars, or 1500 goud per month. And we had two cooks who worked with us. The parents give 5 goud per day, which comes to 100 goud for the month. Well, we must fight to get that money. It’s Mrs. BLANK_X, a teacher who gathers the money. There are some months when she must give reports and you see that it’s only 200, 400, 500 or 600 goud that she has gathered. Now you can understand the person [with the wood] who is coming from Sileg and what’s gonna happen? He cannot give service, he’s gonna be discouraged. He cannot give the wood because you cannot pay him. The cook that we had, in December she left. She said the money was too little. Well what is she going to do? She prefers selling a little coffee in the morning. And she does better selling coffee… It brings her more money than what the school pays her for the month with money from the children. And the last one who stays [and works as a cook] is mistreated. She’s alone. We are supposed to have 500 dollars to give her to pay for wood. You can imagine now, 2500 Goud is 500 Haitian dollars. You don’t even gather 200 dollars (1000 Goud). And there are other big difficulties. She herself is cooking but she does not have any children in the school. She has no interest in it. And she is coming from 4 kilometers away to work. When we propose to the parents that they cook the food, they say it’s too much work. Even though the advantages are for them. And the food, we cannot cook it only with oil and salt given by WFP. We must put spices in it. We already know that everything is expensive. I think Mrs. BLANK_X is the one who works with the cook. She is the one who buys the spices to give to the lady. I think for the month she buys 150,200 dollars of spices. It is just a supposition that I make, there are some things that I can’t get involved in. It’s up to her and the lady. I don’t know. She gathers the money and buys things [spices] for the food. She pays for the wood, she pays the cook. It’s all of these problems. For that reason, the parents and BND say, ‘if you don’t pay, don’t send your children back to school no more.’ But it is the only strategy we could use…. Indeed, it is a good school feeding program for the children. I am wondering if all the school directors will be able to persist. Because it will be the same for all school directors who have a canteen. Can you cook the food without wood? Can you do it without spices? Can the food be done without cooks?
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you. Let us take one person from SCHOOL_A. There are three, but for the moment we will take one.
#10: (Male; 51 years old; School director, oversee canteen; 11th grade; 6 children; 6 children in the program). Well, the school feeding program works well. It works good. It works good and it is good for the school. Sometimes when there was no school feeding program, I used to have problems with the children. When I am in the office, they always come and say, ‘teacher I have a stomachache.’ Every now and then they say, ‘teacher I have stomachache.’ Rapidly, I must send them to buy some fried dough from the vendors. The lady, we also used to see her going outside to buy for them. With the school lunch program, we face less of these problems. And I used to have a lot of absent students. But with the school feeding program there is none of that anymore. The school feeding program works good. The parents make weak contributions, but the school feeding program works good.
Socio-Dig: Alright. Before WFP’s school feeding program, was there any free lunch program in the schools?
#10: (Male; 51 years old; School director, oversee canteen; 11th grade; 6 children; 6 children in the program). No, there was not, only WFP. Only WFP. Before WFP there was nothing.
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). It seems there were other schools that benefited from the lunch program. No, we did not benefit yet.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#10: (Male; 51 years old; School director, oversee canteen; 11th grade; 6 children; 6 children in the program). However, it’s only WFP. If it’s WFP, at that time it’s not BND that used to give it, but WFP.
Socio-Dig: Ok. But it’s not BND that used to give it. What difference do you see between BND now and the way WFP used to give it?
#10: (Male; 51 years old; School director, oversee canteen; 11th grade; 6 children; 6 children in the program). When WFP used to give it, it was not local products. But now it’s Local products and it’s good. It is better for the children. Our school was like that as well.
Public: We did not have one at all.
Socio-Dig: Ok. You did not have one at all. Ok What difference is there between BND and WFP? Ok you can talk number 6.
#6: (Female; 46 years old; School teacher; Rheto; 1 child; 1 child in the program). The difference is because WFP was not local products. It was foreign products they used to give. It is good for the children to eat natural foods. It is good for their health.
Socio-Dig: Ok, Director, several people say that. We all say that. Now the school feeding program encourages the children to come to school. They come to school more often, because they find food. What other advantages does the food give?
Public: The results are improved performance. We don’t get as many children failing.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Reduced number of children failing. Well, if you oversaw the program, what would you do different? Would you leave it like it is? Would you make changes? Number 5.
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). If it was me who coordinated the program, one of the things I would bring as a modification, because I always talk about environmental protection, is the burning of charcoal in the schools. I would give ameliorated stoves or propane. Normally we are using wood in the kitchens, so many trees have been cut, understand? As for me, who lives in BLANK, the advantage that director BLANK_X finds, I don’t find it. He has Bayaronde and Lila trees. But beside my house it’s Mango and Avocado, you understand? Imagine we have some parents who cannot pay for the school. But we agree for them to cut trees to bring firewood to school. What happens is that she/he cuts those trees to pay for school.
Socio-Dig: Yes, continue.
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). It can be that he cuts fruit trees. That’s not good for the environment. I would replace the wood burning with ameliorated stoves or propane. That would reduce the quantity of trees they cut to bring wood to school. Secondly, I would lean harder on the children to participate. The children don’t have to pay for the school feeding program. And me, I would borrow an amount to pay for the cooks. Secondly there might be other money to buy spices for the food to be cooked. Thirdly eeeeh if I have a third… if I don’t have, well I don’t have I will let someone else to talk.
Public: Ok alright.
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). I believe in what teacher number 5 says. I think she speaks for everybody…. If they would do it for real, it would help the schools, like they already started to help them. …because if they didn’t give the free lunch, it would to be another problem for the children. So, we are going to see in next four, five years like there is no school at all. Because when the children don’t get fed they will not stay at school. The result is like they are giving a mango that you plant. You planted your garden too late. But it doesn’t find rain…
Socio-Dig: So, it’s these two changes… If it was you who coordinated the project, these are the two changes you would make?
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). Normally the products they give us are good, understand? But these two things are a burden for us.
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). I might not know, but If WFP found a team like they have for the school feeding program, they could make the food for the school directors…. Because we must organize the school feeding program. We must manage the free lunch. Managing it is more work…. Like the lady who must teach. When she gathers money it’s a fight, she’s losing time. She cannot split it in two pieces. One side stays in the room and teaches and the other one goes to gather the money.
Socio-Dig: Yes, continue.
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). It is just an example. I am talking about SCHOOL_B. When I present the report daily, I must take one hour and half to prepare that report. I give the report to the committee that comes to give the food. And here we are, we’re in the middle of all these children. Today I am obligated to do it under pressure, kneeling at a bench. So, school starts at 7:10 and ends at 12:10. So they come at 8, given the changing time. Meanwhile, the teacher, the first thing he does, he makes a telephone call. Can you see a time lag? Every day you find the time lag like that. But that’s a supposition, if WFP could come here and find a schedule to give the food to the school on time. Then for the food to be given we could find another schedule. After what number 5 says, I think it would be a solution. It would help. It would lighten the load he carries.
Socio-Dig: Is there anybody who wants to add something? If you were responsible for the program, would you lead it like that? Would you do something different?
#6: (Female; 46 years old; School teacher; Rheto; 1 child; 1 child in the program). My colleagues have already said everything. So, it means I don’t need to repeat it.
Socio-Dig: Number 10.
#10: (Male; 51 years old; School director, oversee canteen; 11th grade; 6 children; 6 children in the program). I think that next to wood, what number 5 says is good for everybody. But there is another thing. When the children come to school, the first area they look at is the kitchen. If they see there is no fire you can see they are discouraged. When the food is being cooked at the school, I think it’s better.
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). There is a simple thing also. It can be easy for the urban areas, but it’s difficult in the rural areas. Compared to where the schools are located, you understand? Compared to the journey by vehicle to give the food. It will be difficult. For example, in my area, since the storm, vehicles cannot reach us. Even if they bring the food, they leave it by the road. It’s motorcycles that must go pick it up. Sometimes I send children from the school to pick up the food and bring it here. Can you understand that? For the food to come it is very difficult. The school, like we are saying, the smoke is rising, every now and then you look at it, there is hope.
Socio-Dig: Number 5 said something. When the lady said if it was you who would lead or coordinate the school feeding program, what would you do? You said several things. I would like you to tell me how you are going to find money to cover the fees? Do you have any example of how you would find that money?
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). Well, as manager and responsible of a project, I would look for funding first. The first stage is to find the means to buy stoves instead of using firewood. It is simple, every month, every 22 days and every 15 days the propane gas is finished and so we must go fill it again. And go back to place it in the school. I say the first thing we must have is the money to buy these things. Secondly is to look for the means to cover the fees that the children are supposed to be paying. You understand? At this moment [if they had the propane] I would not need money to buy wood to cook the food. And so now I would look for money to buy ingredients for the food to be cooked.
Socio-Dig: Ok, alright, thank you. Now we see the inconveniences that come with cooking the food. What if there was a possibility of giving a cold plate to the children rather than a hot one. What would you think is better for the children in the place of the hot plate? To be clear, a cold plate is, for example, a plate of fruits, bananas, pineapples or bread with peanut butter. It can be eggs, cassava with peanut butter. But it must be a local thing that is not hot.
#-9: For me, I think the hot plate is better. Especially in my school. In my class, there are some children who are never satisfied with what we give to them. They used to say: ‘aah that’s not tasty enough.’ Despite the fact the cold plate brings more vitamins to them, they are not going to see it that way. They will focus more on the full belly. They will focus more on that.
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). The lady says the cold plate will bring more vitamins. I don’t see that. Don’t forget that I will have to get respect for the diet. For me, in this way I believe giving a hot plate to the children is better. For the children, it’s easy for them to eat a mango. He passes by his father’s yard and finds an Abrigo (a type of fruit) and he eats it. Do you understand? He can find a pineapple in his father’s garden. But when he’s at school he is more interested in the hot food. I think it would be better. There is a possibility, maybe one day per week, that they could modify it to give something different to the children. That would not be a problem. But the hot plate would be better.
Socio-Dig: Alright, thank you.
#3: (Female; 43 years old; School teacher; Philo; 1 child; 1 child in the program). I remember before WFP used to give us food, that was important indeed. But before the food was ready, the children used to go buy candy to eat. As now it’s BND that is financing the program, I don’t know how it is. When it was WFP, I know the children would go buy candy before the food was cooked, so they were not waiting for the food. After the break, the children are going to eat. Even if you’re giving a lesson, they don’t follow it. They’re focused on the food. But if they could find something to eat before the food is cooked, I see it is better for them. I see they don’t do that anymore.
Socio-Dig: Everyone here has children who are in schools where there is a school feeding program?
Public: No. Some of us do.
Socio-Dig: Let me clarify. WFP is like the boss. It’s like BND is inside WFP. BND delivers. It’s like BND is inside of WFP.
#3: (Female; 43 years old; School teacher; Philo; 1 child; 1 child in the program). Ok I see.
Socio-Dig: For those of you who were in the old program, the current program is not BND. How did you used to get the food? Was it you who used to go to pick-up the foods or did WFP bring them to you?
#3: (Female; 43 years old; School teacher; Philo; 1 child; 1 child in the program). WFP used to bring the food to us.
Socio-Dig: Ok, alright. What impact did the storm has on the program? Do you think Hurricane Matthew has had an impact on the program? Number 5.
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). For example, there are many local products that we used to find. After the hurricane, they were scarce. For example, we couldn’t find manioc, you understand? Well, we couldn’t find any vegetables. It was an emergency to find them. Now, the rain has started to fall again. There are many things that BND finds and brings to the school. That is to say, after the bad weather, there was a major problem around here. Right up to present, I don’t think anyone is producing plantains. They’re still growing [not yet yielding] right up to the present. It’s just now that maybe they have some that are going to yield…
Socio-Dig: Ok, was there a scarcity of other food, of the quantity of food you could find?
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). Yes, like other things. Fresh produce.
Socio-Dig: With what did you replace the fresh fruit?
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). Nothing. Only rice and beans. It was in January 2017 that we began to recuperate. But there are a series foods that they still can’t give us. For example, chayote, spinach. Since the hurricane, BND can’t find them to give us. We’re obliged to replace them with something else. Even plantains we can’t find, because there are none.
Socio-Dig: Yes, number 10.
#10: (Male; 51 years old; School director, oversee canteen; 11th grade; 6 children; 6 children in the program). Yes, I would say spinach we can’t find at all. Manioc, we can’t find at all.
Socio-Dig. But while we have this scarcity, do the children still eat the same amount of food that they used to eat when they got fresh produce.
Public: Yes, they increased the amount of sweet potatoes and yams.
#10: (Male; 51 years old; School director, oversee canteen; 11th grade; 6 children; 6 children in the program). In the place of manioc, they increased yams, sweet potatoes.
Socio-Dig: Ok. According to you, do you think that 100% of the program is truly local food? If yes ok, but if no, how would you make it local, meaning really local?
Public: Laughter.
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). When we take the oil
Socio-Dig: The oil. The oil is not local. Number 1
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). The oil is not local. I always say that. If WFP said they were going to do something local, know that they don’t mean oil. I don’t know about this week, but they have an oil they brought for us. In the school. I looked at it and I see that I must shake it. Every morning I must shake before I give it to the children.
Socio-Dig. It gels?
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). Yes, it gels. For me that’s not good.
Socio-Dig: Ti Malis [a local brand of oil]
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). No. No, it’s not in a gallon. You must shake it when it settles. It’s like pig fat. It gels like margarine. And you shake it and shake it and when you pour it out it’s white. White, white, white.
Socio-Dig: And when you put it in the cooking pot?
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). Since I don’t look in the cooking pot… I feel like it’s not a good quality of oil compared to what came before. For rice, I think that’s local no matter what. Even if it’s not from right around here. It’s not from this region. It’s not from this commune. Not this department. I think that it’s from Haiti. The yams, I think they’re from this area. Except I don’t know if they buy them from the producers. The wholesalers, they need to make a little money. It’s me who’s interpreting it like this. There are those (yam) that are too ripe. And when you cook them, they are either bitter, or they’re crisp [as if they’re not ripe]. For the yam, with the sweet potatoes, sometimes… maybe it’s where they store them. Because twice I put sweet potatoes in the storage room. I put them on the ground. When I went to get them on Monday most were rotten. But that could be the storage. When I asked the market ladies they said not to put them on the ground. Put them on a board. Now they stay good.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). One thing I’d like to add. Regarding the oil, I think that the oil they give is not a good quality oil. I’ve observed that…I’ve never seen oil in a gallon gel. I wonder if it’s not oil from a barrel that they send to the canteen. I mean, I think there’s better oil they could give the school. The second thing concerns the yams. There are people who dig up yams, they don’t know what’s ripe from what isn’t yet ripe. Me, I plant them. There are times you can dig up yams, you think they’re ripe. When you finish digging them up you see that underneath they’re all white. When the bottom is white they have a bitter taste. I don’t think it is the fault of the people who dig the yams. It’s when they finish digging them up that they see they’re not ripe. For example, sweet potatoes too. It seems to me that when they buy the sweet potatoes, it could be two or three days before they bring them to the school. They spend too much time on the ground. The time it takes to deliver them is what makes them spoil so quick. For the yams too, we find yams that are almost rotten. Because if a yam is bruised it won’t store at all. You understand? After two or three days, it can spoil.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Is there anyone who would like to add anything else?
#10: (Male; 51 years old; School director, oversee canteen; 11th grade; 6 children; 6 children in the program). The only problem is with the oil…. The last time they came for a report, when the lady came, I told her that the oil had a problem, it gels. She saw the gallon, how it gelled inside. And with the eggplants, the way #5 just said, the eggplants… well, it seems it’s the way they harvest them that makes them like that. They bring them and give them to me and I find some that have completely rotted. I told the woman that. She said, ‘well, I can’t tell them anything because they’re not involved.’ And the cabbage they bring also. They bring me so many kilograms… but when I weigh them I find that’s not true. Because they already cleaned them.
Socio-Dig: That means that the yam….
#10: (Male; 51 years old; School director, oversee canteen; 11th grade; 6 children; 6 children in the program). Regarding the cabbage, they take out a big part of it.
Socio-Dig: While we’re talking about this. The lady was asking a question, but we got cut off. Is there a ration of food? Because there is a ration of rice that is zero point something… Is there a ration of yam like that? Is there a ration of sweet potato? And cabbage, the way you were saying?
#10: (Male; 51 years old; School director, oversee canteen; 11th grade; 6 children; 6 children in the program). Well, we don’t have it. When they bring us the food they only say, ‘here is how many kilograms it weighs.’ Here is how many kilogram. If I cook it two times in a week. For example, cabbage. They bring me 48 kilograms of cabbage. I cook 24 kilograms. I leave the rest. That’s how we do it. And carrots. They bring 22. And once I cooked eight. Once I cooked seven. I cooked 2.7, and eight. It gave me 22, it’s like that. But they don’t have a ration the same way as rice, beans, and oil. As much as the child…. But before, for yams, they used to give me 16 kilograms. But now they give me more.
Socio-Dig: With what do you measure it to know that it’s 16 kilograms.
#10: (Male; 51 years old; School director, oversee canteen; 11th grade; 6 children; 6 children in the program). No. They bring it in a sack. I have a scale. I weigh it.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). Because normally, or before the quantity they used to give me was insufficient. Right up to the present, when we have stew it is difficult to feed all the children. Imagine, you have times when it’s just a little bit of sweet potato, a little bit of yam, a little bit of stew. It doesn’t do anything for the children. It’s just a little taste. It was worse before. But right up to the present the stew isn’t enough. …
Socio-Dig: Ok
#3: (Female; 43 years old; School teacher; Philo; 1 child; 1 child in the program). We were talking about the oil before. We had a problem with beans too. Twice I believe that the cooks made us see how the beans were. I would think that before they bring it to us they would look and see how much time it can last before it spoils. How much time it can last before they send it. Because beans spoil. When that happens, they burn them. It’s the same for oil that’s not of good quality, beans are a problem too.
Socio-Dig: Ok,
#10: (Male; 51 years old; School director, oversee canteen; 11th grade; 6 children; 6 children in the program). For beans, I made a mistake. How? What they gave me before, they brought a 2nd stock for me. What was there the first time I didn’t use.
Socio-Dig: You used the new stock?
#10: (Male; 51 years old; School director, oversee canteen; 11th grade; 6 children; 6 children in the program). But when I realized this, I use it now. Well, the error was mine.
Public: Laughter
Socio-Dig: When the beans spoil like this, is it because of where you store them? Or is it that they dry out? It could be humidity that spoils them?
#10: (Male; 51 years old; School director, oversee canteen; 11th grade; 6 children; 6 children in the program). No. When they’re too old.
Socio-Dig: Ok. When they’ve been stored too long they spoil. We know that it’s local food. Someone said it’s not from this region. Is it possible for that to happen, for us to produce what we need to cook them? Could we find them in the community where the school is located?
Public: It’s not possible.
Socio-Dig: Around here, what do you most produce?
Public: We produce eggplant, black beans, every type of vegetable.
Socio-Dig: Black beans or butter beans?
Public: Black beans.
Socio-Dig: You find them by the season or all the time?
#9: (Female; 31 years old; School teacher; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). By the season. Even rice is by the season.
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). That’s what most encourages people to plant. You understand? Because people, if they can sell, they are encouraged to plant. Like in the highland, there are no seasons. It’s all the time, it’s harvest and plant. I have something I want to add. I recall that there was a plan. BND told us that they had some school they wanted to target. For example… they could make gardens for the students. But I see that project did not come through. But I see that there are several schools, that there are things they could produce. So that we could have a means to make them. It might be that it’s not possible for us. I have some land that if I wanted to produce eggplant, spinach, we could grow other things. We could produce them. For example, where we have the land. We told BND that if they would give us a water pump so that we could produce those vegetables. But they let these fall through. They’re not interested in that. That would allow us to have our own gardens. We would find fresh produce. And it would cost less money too.
Socio-Dig: Ok. I’m happy that you mentioned that.
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). Imagine, we already have land. We just need a means to work it. Send us an agronomist. We’ll make the children participate. You understand? In the activities. When you speak to the children’s mind, the children learn such things. You tell him, ‘here is how you can grow vegetables,’ so that he can go and do it himself. A learning session we could make with the children. That’s what I think. If we produce local, that should be done too.
Socio-Dig: Ok. And the parents of the students, what could the parents do to help the program function better?
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). Or say yes, it could work.
Socio-Dig: Yes, it could work.
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). From my point of view, there are many things the parents could do if they wanted to. I think that could arrange a schedule so that they made food. When they did, the school could pay them. Even those parents could organize themselves.
Socio-Dig: To make the food come to the school?
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). No, no. They make food in the canteen. Like in SCHOOL_B, the people they took on [to make food], she doesn’t have children in the school. She has no personal interest [in seeing that the food is prepared]. The parents say they don’t have time to make food. The parents could get together and gather firewood. Those who have gardens could bring spices to make food. Then the school would not have to buy those things. But I don’t see the parents doing anything
Socio-Dig: Well, we already have spent a lot of time here. I want to speak a little about teachers in the rural areas. I know there are a lot of problems for teachers to get paid in schools in the countryside. I would like to ask how you directors of the school manage the teachers?
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). Myself, I don’t have any problems. It’s a state school. All the teachers get paid.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). After that it’s me. It’s a Chinese hat [an expression]. It’s a private school. When I say private, the state doesn’t have anything to do with it. It’s not in SIGO [the apparently defunct government program for support to primary schools called ‘Free School for Everyone]. Nor is it in the EPT program. That means it doesn’t have any sponsor. It’s the fat of the pig that cooks the pig. I don’t believe that education has a price. Even the State can’t say it pays the teachers. Even the Haitian State cannot say they pay the teachers. When you take a State teacher, they make 25, 40, 50 dollars Haitian
Socio-Dig: That makes how much per month?
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). No, they give the teachers 15,000 Goud per month. When you divide that by 25. Secondary at 25,000 Goud to 25,000 Goud. But it’s with a lot of noise, yes. When you take the net proceeds, it’s reduced to 19,000 Goud. When you divide by the year, that is going to depend on what school too. The State says that it gives 24 hours of courses. The school can choose to give 18. Now when, when you have 18 hours, you give by four, per week, and you take the total, you divide and see what you have, which is more or less what you get at a private school. Because a private school will give a professor 10 to 15 dollars Haitian. That’s something pathetic. Well, when you take the level of primary school, imagine a child pays 2,000 Gourd for one year. From that 2,000 Goud, they pay the teachers. They pay for the report cards. They pay for the tests. They pay for everything [from that 2,000 Goud]. Well, imagine, the school has no cash. It’s a forced march. It’s truly a problem.
Socio-Dig: Ok. But what keep professors from just quitting and going to teach school in the city? Going somewhere else?
#10: (Male; 51 years old; School director, oversee canteen; 11th grade; 6 children; 6 children in the program). Don’t forget it’s a choice.
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). No, only it is a choice. The country doesn’t offer us anything. Many of those who have completed high school, many go not only to Chile, they become moto-taxi drivers. They go to University. Well, the few that the university takes, not even a 50th of them finish. And even those that finish. When you go for that education, how many thousands of children are rioting at the ministry? Smashing benches? The State trains teachers at the teaching college…. They don’t find anywhere to put them. That’s the reality. That’s the reality of society the way it is.
Socio-Dig: That’s no lie. Well, for our part, those are the questions we wanted to ask. I don’t know about you guys. I will give you a chance to ask us questions or to add anything.
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). Something I notice. It’s something they promised the schools. They never gave them what they said. It’s a matter of the milk for all the schools. They said that each Wednesday, every child would get a glass of milk. A year has passed. And a second year is passing. We don’t see the milk.
Socio-Dig: You never got any at all?
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). No, I recall they made a contract. But it didn’t work. But I would think that in place… since it’s local products they’re trying to encourage, if they can’t find cow milk, they would do something else. You understand? Even if it was homemade juice they gave the children. If we gave, gave…. But we must respect nutrition and not push rice and bean sauce. Even if it was just a little juice once per week. It would be important.
Socio-Dig: Ok. We’ll take note of that.
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). What we could add to what number 5 said, aside from the milk if they could give juice. I would like them to give juice. I recall in training, BND said it was an experiment that WFP was making for 2 years.
Socio-Dig: Yes, it’s a pilot project.
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). It’s a pilot project. Well, I would think that the year is finishing in 2017. We would hope that the experimental phase finishes and the project is enlarged. Not only continues, but enlarges with other schools.
Socio-Dig: Ok, we’ve arrived at a question I would like to ask. Do you think that it’s necessary that WFP continues the project?
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). Extremely necessary, very important.
Public: O yesss! It would be very good.
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). More than necessary
Socio-Dig: More than necessary. Why?
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). I guarantee you, if WFP cuts the program, if they cut the food to the schools, many children will not be going to school anymore. They’re already accustomed to the food. Many of them will not go to school again. Because don’t forget that many parents don’t support the kids any more. There are children who come to school because they know they’re going to get fed. The child comes on his own. But if it was up to the parents, all the kids could sit home. For the majority, they can take a hoe, go and weed
.Socio-Dig: Ok.
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). There are children I can recount who are in my school. When they have a problem and we call the parents, it’s like you don’t need to call the father or mother. You can just resolve the problem with the child. The parents have no control over the child. They have no authority over them. You understand? Those children, they take care of themselves, they put themselves in school. You understand?
Socio-Dig: I understand.
#5: (Male; 41 years old; School teacher, oversee canteen; University; 1 child; No child in the program). In that sense that I said, to take those children out of the program is to close the school door.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you very much.
#1: (Male; 57 years old; School director, oversee canteen; Philo; 1 child; No child in the program). We say thank you to you too.
Public: We say thank you also
Focus Group #5: All Male Farmers (Salaniac 2)
Date of focus group: 3/27/2017
Date of transcription: 04/04/2017-04/15/2017
Date of translation: 04/15/2017-04/20/2017
Interviewers
Almathe Jean: Female, 28 years of age, 0 children, Focus Group supervisor.
Natacha: Female, 28 years of age, no children, focus group leader and surveyor.
Jackly: Male, 33 years of age, 2 children, Survey supervisor and focus group leader.
Participants
#3: BLANK_1; male; 26 years old; farmer; 2nd grade; No children; No children in the program
#5: BLANK_2; male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program
#6; BLANK_3; male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program
#9; BLANK_4; male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program
FOCUS GROUP TRANSCRIPTION
Socio-Dig (Almathe): Good morning everyone.
Public: Good morning.
Socio-Dig (Almathe): My name is Almathe. I am working for a firm called Socio-Dig. … We do research… At the moment we are working for WFP, which is World Food Program. WFP has a pilot project that provides school children a free lunch. What we are doing is meeting with farmers, parents, and school teachers. We have a few questions to ask you. We know that not all of you are directly involved with WFP. Some of you have a relationship with ROPANIP. ROPANIP is responsible for buying local products for local schools that are in the program. We will talk more about it later. First, the others in our team will introduce themselves. Then we will continue.
Socio-Dig (Jackly): Good morning.
Public: Good morning.
Socio-Dig (Jackly): I’m Beautelus Jackly. I work for a firm called Socio-Dig. But this work we are doing now is for WFP, which is World Food Program. We are going to turn on devices that will record everything you are going to say. WFP will hear what you have to say…. You have a number. I do not know if the lady explained what the number is for. This number is so that when we ask you a question and you want to give an answer you can just say your number… If someone else wants to give his point of view, he will also do the same time. You do not need to say that you are pastor INTEL. Just say your number. I am glad to be here with you. I am going to let Miss Natacha introduce herself.
Socio-Dig (Natacha): My name is Natacha. I work with Socio-Dig. But today we represent WFP. I am happy to be here with you.
Socio-Dig: We will continue with each participant.
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). Good morning everyone.
Public: Good morning.
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). I’m… My number is 9. I am a simple farmer and student.
Socio-Dig: Can you speak louder?
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). Yes, I’m a farmer and a student. We choose to work just to see how we can contribute on moving the country forward. So um…
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#3: (male; 26 years old; farmer; 2nd grade; No children; No children in the program). Good morning I am… Well, I am a worker. My number is 3. I am a farmer, my occupation is farming.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). Good morning everyone. I am number 5. I am a farmer and evangelist.
Socio-Dig: Ok, thanks.
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Yes, hello everyone. I am… I’m farmer. I’m a member of the CHURCH_A which is overseen by pastor BLANK_K of ZONE_3. Um, I am living in ZONE_3. My church is in BLANK. Everyone knows about CHURCH_A. We are here so that we can evangelize. We are here so that we can help those who are lost get saved. This gospel is spread to the whole country. Thank you.
Socio-Dig: Thank you everyone for introducing ourselves. Like Jackly said, we have some points that we want to talk about. If you want to answer just say your number. Let’s start. In this community, what crops do you grow?
#3: (male; 26 years old; farmer; 2nd grade; No children; No children in the program). We produce carrots, cabbage, yams, and several…
Socio-Dig: Which do you produce the most?
#3: (male; 26 years old; farmer; 2nd grade; No children; No children in the program). Yam and cabbage.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Do we have seasons for yam and cabbage?
#3: (male; 26 years old; farmer; 2nd grade; No children; No children in the program). Yes. Um, it has a season.
Socio-Dig: When is the season?
#3: (male; 26 years old; farmer; 2nd grade; No children; No children in the program). It has no season. If it rains we work. We are hard workers. If we get rain we work. You understand?
Socio-Dig: When is the rainy season?
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). The beginning of February, starting December, January, February, in March we start planting.
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). We get more rain in March 21, when spring starts.
Public: The way you see it, it will be raining a lot around here.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Would someone else like to add something more?
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). Precisely the cultivars that we plant most here are yams and cabbages. They do not have an exact season. Like he was saying, if it rains we plant.
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). And we also plant beans.
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). Sure!
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). We grow beans; we grow all types of beans. But yam and cabbage are more in demand. As soon as we see it is raining, we plant them. But one small difficulty we have is that sometimes we do not have money, for instance to buy fertilizer.
Public: And to weed, to take care of the fields.
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). Sometimes we can’t afford the fertilizer.
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). And the plants will not grow healthy
Public: Mostly, they die. They grow poorly.
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). Not only must you plant the seeds, you also must clean the land to plant it. Now, because of a lack of money, you end up losing the harvest. Sometimes that happens over and over. You can imagine when you keep losing money without having any profit. If we had credit where we can get money, we will make a lot of profit. Um, if a farmer has some money, quickly he buys 2 bags of cabbage seeds and plants them. Rapidly it grows and he makes money. That’s an income-generating activity he has, even if it’s not much. The farmer may work and he doesn’t see a profit from the land. Sometimes he gets discouraged and decides not to do it anymore. He doesn’t have money to take good care of the land, to clean it. He comes to realize that he is losing money, a deficit.
Socio-Dig: Ok. I understand.
[Motorcycle passing near]
Socio-Dig: What most causes you to lose crops?
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). The first thing is the fertilizer. You plant the cabbage and someone with the means, after 15 to 22 days, it needs fertilizer. And with the fertilizer, you need to give it fertilizer at least 2 to 3 times to be a success. It can happen that you only give a small amount of fertilizer and it doesn’t grow well, it is stunted. But if you have the means and you put enough fertilizer, it will succeed. That’s why we lose our harvests. We can say we don’t have a government that is helping us to better our situation, to develop agriculture.
Socio-Dig: Does anyone want to add something else?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Yes. I’m number 6.
Socio-Dig: Yes, number 6.
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). The reason that we have… We are farmers, like he said. We plant yams. The yams that we plant, we can start from January to March. But when we reach the spring, that’s when we start doing more activities in fields. Because spring begins March 21 and we can get rain. A lot of the time we would like to plant, but because it is raining too much, we are unable to plant. Sometimes we lack money to buy fertilizer. The fertilizer and the rain. The rain is the first fertilizer. And the natural fertilizer is second fertilizer. And then we are planting beans. We plant carrots. We plant cabbage. When there is rain, we do many activities.
Socio-Dig: Who would like to add more? Yes, number 5?
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). Yes, that’s me. What I’ve been doing? So, I am a farmer, that is my occupation. I grow cabbage and yams. Sometimes I grow beans. To make a good profit and a good harvest I need to have a lot of fertilizer… Sometimes I borrow money to invest in my land so that I do not lose my harvest. If I do not go to borrow, I will not have enough money to take good care of the land, to create a good environment for the plants to grow healthy. If I do not borrow money, I will not be able plant. I won’t be able get good fertilizer for the land. … My teaching is to also give the good news.
Socio-Dig: Where do you find the seeds to purchase around here, number 6?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Um here… Sometimes people buy seeds to sell. When we can’t find seeds around here, we go to Fond des Negrès to buy at an agriculture boutique called Agro Service.
Socio-Dig: There is something that is called a market chain. A market chain is the process of selling the crop. When you harvest, how do you sell? Number 9.
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). Ok. Sometimes the crop is good. But the problem we currently have is when you arrive at the market … The fertilizer is expensive. The seed is expensive as well. Currently, to buy one small bag of seeds you need 500HTG. A bag of fertilizer costs 1500HTG.
When we go to the market you may get a small bag of seed for 500HTG and a bag of fertilizer for 1500HTG. You need to take care of the land and you need money to pay people if you can’t clean it on your own. Sometimes it happens when you go to sell at the market it is a catastrophe. Sometimes you are unable to even make the money that you have spent. Now, imagine if there was a good organization that could defend us as farmers. In developing countries when you do farming, sometimes their government helps them to buy fertilizer and seeds. They provide them with credit for a low interest rate. But in Haiti we don’t get anything, not even a little help. What WFP is doing is really important. They buy some products from us and use it to feed the children in school. Not everyone benefits from that. Sometimes you spend money but you are unable make a profit. Well, sometimes you almost lose half of it. Sometimes you lose it completely.
Socio-Dig: Number 6, you want to add something?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Yes. You asked when we have crops, where we sell them?
Socio-Dig: The market chain, what is the process of the market chain? How do you get the crops to the market? Where do you sell them?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Sometimes the markets may not be ready for us. We face many difficulties to reach the markets. And sometimes as my colleague said, we happen to go to the market when we think it will be good for us and it isn’t. If we could find a place that buys our products, we would feel much better.
Socio-Dig: Thank you. Anyone want to add something more?
#3: (male; 26 years old; farmer; 2nd grade; No children; No children in the program). Well, this is number 3. Like you heard from number 9, what he said is true.
Socio-Dig: Ok. But who is responsible for selling your crops? Who takes the crops to the market?
Public: When the crops are ready, we take a bus/taptap and go sell them in Fond des Negrès.
Socio-Dig: Who in the family is responsible for doing this?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Our wives sell them. Remember it’s the holder of the card that plays the card. If I work hard to plant, my wife should responsible to sell the harvest at the market. I am not obligated to go and sell it at the market. [Laughter]
Socio-Dig: Ok. Number 9, who sells for you?
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). My mother is responsible for all the selling. I may plant sweet potatoes, yams, cabbage; my mother is the one who sells them. She goes to the market to sell them. She goes to the market in Fond des Nègrès. The cost on motorcycle is 250HTG. You may go to the market on motorcycle but they do not usually carry the crops on motorcycle. Sometimes they would carry a little something behind on the moto but not too much. The crops are carried on trucks. For a small sack, you pay 150HTG, not a big sack. So, um, my mom is responsible for everything. I do not know about the future when I have wife, when I get married, who will be responsible. [Laughter]
Socio-Dig: What about you who is responsible to sell for you, number 6?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). I know when you get married all your stuff will belong to your wife. So, my wife sell for me.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Sometimes I go with her.
Public: Laughter
Socio-Dig: Ok, but she is responsible?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Yes, she is responsible.
Socio-Dig: What about you, Pastor?
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). Yes. I sell my products on my own. I do it better than my wife. My wife has typhoid. She has problem with her feet.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). She can’t go all the way to the market.
Socio-Dig: Does that means you sell to Madam Sara?
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). I sell the entire harvest. Sometimes I sell all of it. Sometimes I take it to Misòt to sell it. I give a servant of God to sell it for me.
Socio-Dig: What is your relationship with ROPANIP, number 6?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Yes, I heard about ROPANIP. ROPANIP is in the field. Well, I said I was in ROPANIP. I removed myself. But I know ROPANIP is one of the organizations that do great work. ROPANIP used to give seeds. It usually gives cabbage and carrots. It also gives fertilizer. Um, when I was in ROPANIP I benefited from them. I got a goat from them. Something happened and I decided not to be with them anymore, but I want to return.
Socio-Dig: Great, let me ask you a small question. Ok, can you give me a little story about you and ROPANIP?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). So, not really…
Socio-Dig: For example, were you a member of ROPANIP or were you in another organization who was selling to ROPANIP? How was the relationship?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Yes. I was in the organization. Back then ROPANIP was not buying. It is after they start buying food and providing to schools. At that time, I was no longer a member of ROPANIP.
Socio-Dig: Ok, number 9?
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). My father is a member of ROPANIP. So, when they get something, they share it among the members. Everyone in ROPANIP gets a little something. Except that when they first started they did a lot of things. As our colleague said, he got a goat. He is right. That was wonderful. It was very helpful. They also help us in education. Mostly, our harvest is not wasted. The president of ROPANIP, if you manage to meet him and talk to him, he will help you sell your products to the schools that take part in the canteen so they can have food. That is my small story that I have. My father shared with me a lot of stories but this is only one I remember.
Socio-Dig: Ok. No one wants to add anything more?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). I do not know if there is someone else that has something to add but me I am done.
Socio-Dig: Do they buy stuff from you? Even if it is not exactly ROPANIP who’s doing the buying. Maybe someone buys form you and sells to ROPANIP. Do they ever buy products from you to take it to schools and feed the children?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). I have not done that …
Socio-Dig: You have done that?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). I have not.
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). I sell my products but I don’t know if the person takes them to schools. But I am not in a group that sells them my produce. I have not found one. I have not found anyone to sell my goods for me. Do you understand? I don’t have people to buy.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). This means I do not have the courage also to join them without having no contact with them. I do not know them. I do not want them to be mean to me when I enter. But if I had the opportunity, if they asked me to sell to them, I would have. But I will not take it to them without them asking me to take it to them.
Socio-Dig: I understand.
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). So, the reason why I manage to sell them my produce is because my father is a member of the organization. Sometimes… he takes mine. So, that is why I ended up providing them. If they receive the produce, that means the children will get fed. Because I was talking with a teacher who told me they receive food every day. I asked him how they give the food to the children. He told me, sometimes they give yams, and sometimes it is sweet potatoes. Sometimes they give manioc, soup, and sometimes they made vegetable mush to feed the children. Now, I said, ‘If it’s like that, it’s working’ I said, ‘that’s a terrific thing.’ Although I am not part of the program, honestly, that encourages me to produce more and more because I am happy to see the children consuming local products. I am happy that they are eating local products from my farm.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Let me ask a question about what you said. When they take the product from your father, does he sell them to ROPANIP? Do you make more money when you sell your crops at the local markets?
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). It’s vice versa. Sometimes you make more money selling them in the markets and sometimes you make less money. For example, last year I had some cabbages and I went to the market and sold them 400HTG to 450HGT. I could have sold them to ROPANIP for more than 450HTG. At the market, you can sell it for 1500HTG but with ROPANIP it will be a bit more than that. I heard that ROPANIP is buying at the market price, I do not know if that is really true.
Silence …
Socio-Dig: Ok. Do you want to be part of ROPANIP?
Public: Yes, yes.
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). If we have opportunity to do it, I will do it.
Socio-Dig: What do you think of the school-feeding programs and feeding the children local food? You already shared your view with us number 9. Can someone else answer?
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). That needed to be done…
Socio-Dig: Number 5…
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). That needed to be done because it is like an aid that they give them. I am happy to get involved in this too. I have not thought about it… Now I want to part of it.
Socio-Dig: Very good! Number 6, what do you think of the program?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). What do I think of the program? The program is an activity that helps the children. So, there are parents that don’t give their child anything to eat to go to school and, sometimes, even you may not have enough to feed your own child before they go to school. Sometimes what you give them to eat is not enough to keep them for the day. When the children go to school and they get something to eat that helps you as parent. It is a wonderful activity.
Socio-Dig: Number 3, what do you think of the program?
#3: (male; 26 years old; farmer; 2nd grade; No children; No children in the program). Um I am … I like the program because I am a farmer. Since there is a place that I can directly send my products without any problem that is good.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Do you have the program here? Which schools are providing the canteen in the community?
#3: (male; 26 years old; farmer; 2nd grade; No children; No children in the program). Yes. Some schools have it. There is school over there, Kay BLANK_T has it. They always feed them. Kay BLANK_S also has a canteen.
Socio-Dig: Do you have children in the canteen?
#3: (male; 26 years old; farmer; 2nd grade; No children; No children in the program). I do not have children in the program. My children are at SCHOOL_5. They do not have canteen.
Socio-Dig: They don’t have a canteen?
#3: (male; 26 years old; farmer; 2nd grade; No children; No children in the program). No.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Another question about the canteen, they provide the children with a hot meal. They give it to them during recess. Is it necessary to provide a hot meal to the children? Do you think they could give the children something else in place of the hot meal, something already prepared? Yes number 9…
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). Um, when it is already prepared and when you prepare it, that’s 2 different things. What they are eating now is our own products. We don’t know if it will come from China or the United States. I do not really know. Since they want to modernize everything, that modernization is making us all sick because there is something in the food that they send us. For instance, there was something called Papyo. It is a juice. A little juice that they put in plastic bags and whenever I drink it, I feel that my entire body is hurting me. Sometimes it puts me in bed for a entire day and sometimes my urine is sweet. I stopped drinking it. So, we have local products and we can prepare them. Sometimes we make guava juice, grapefruit juice, orange juice or soursop juice. We can make carrot juice. Not something that is prepared in another country. They are two different things. Hot meal instead of a cold food that is prepared in Haiti and the one from aboard. I think the hot meal is the best solution for the children.
Socio-Dig: Ok. What about if it is something that is prepared locally that doesn’t have to be cooked on the same day, cold food?
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). If it is prepared locally, it is still a problem. Hot meals are more significant. With the cold food, remember that cholera is still out there.
Socio-Dig: What I mean by cold food is that it is something that doesn’t need to be cooked to eat. It may be something like cassava with peanut butter, bananas. Let’s say something like cookies, cookies that are local?
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). Ok, ok. Now I understand. Anyway, a hot meal is the best solution for children.
Socio-Dig: Do you say the same number 6?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). I will say that when the child has a plate of food, I still think it is better because when you prepare the cold food… you may give the child cookies maybe something like a sweet roll and banana. Some children will get worms because of that.
Sweet is not good for them. When the child eats salt food it is better for them. Often, they may give children a salt cracker. They can prepare a plate of boiling plantains with sauce. The boiling plantain is even better than the bananas. Who knows, maybe they will give Chiko [industrial processed cheese snack]. So, the hot meal, it is more important, more important.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Do you want to have the program in this community?
Public: Yes. Yes, yes.
Socio-Dig: Are there many schools in the area? How many public schools are in this community?
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). Two for this area, I know three public schools.
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). You asking if I would like it?
Socio-Dig: Yes. Would you like to have such a program in this area for children benefit from it?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Um, I’m asking you. Can you bring the program here for us?
Socio-Dig: I will answer you. We have a report we will write to WFP. We are going to say to them we spoke with the people and here is what they have said; we are going to give them your words. Agreed?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). I would like that my children’s school could participate in the canteen…
Socio-Dig: Is Kay BLANK_T a public school?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). I do not know if it is a public school.
Public: It is a public school
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). I feel bad. I wish that my children’s school could participate in the program, that will be very good.
Socio-Dig: What is the school’s name?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). BLANK_CJ
Socio-Dig: Ok. I’m going to repeat the question again. If WFP says that they don’t have enough money to pay for a hot meal for all the child, and that they will only give snacks, would you say to WFP not to provide the child with any food or would you let the children eat snacks?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). I would advise them to give a normal plate of food even if it is not every day. They can change the meals. There are six days in a week. They could give them a normal plate of food for three days and for the other three days they could give snacks. If they feel that the cost is too much for them, well, we know that cooking food is expensive. They do not need to feed them for the entire week. They could change the meals.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Make hot meals today and cold food tomorrow.
Socio-Dig: Thanks. Would someone else like to add more? Are there six school days per week here?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). No, it was an example.
Socio-Dig: Five days? Ok. Do you think this project should continue?
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). Yes.
Public: Yes, yes. It should continue, continue.
Socio-Dig: Why should it continue? Why?
#3: (male; 26 years old; farmer; 2nd grade; No children; No children in the program). Because it is very good. I will always want to send my child to a school where there is canteen.
Socio-Dig: Would that help you?
#3: (male; 26 years old; farmer; 2nd grade; No children; No children in the program). It will help me. There are times when he will go to school, he is going to eat something in school. That would be good for me.
Socio-Dig: Yes, number 9?
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). It will be very helpful even though I do not have children yet. The hot meal will not only be for the children but the parents also. Sometimes you might get up and have just an egg and a banana to give to the child or a piece of bread. Some parents give their child some money. But when the child gets food at school that helps the parents save money. It’s a good thing.
Socio-Dig: That’s all the questions I have. I do not know if my colleagues have some things to add.
Socio-Dig: Maybe. I forgot a question I had earlier. But if Natacha has something, she can still say it while I am trying to remember my question.
Socio-Dig: My question is, do you know the role of WFP? As a farmer do you know the role of WFP?
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). No…
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). I believe the role of WFP… This is the first time I’ve heard about WFP. I have not heard of it before. If WFP has a role it plays, we do not know what it is. If you can share it with us, I will appreciate it.
Socio-Dig: Pastor, would you like to add something?
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). According to everything you said, if I could make a brief summary. I would say that WFP is here to help us move forward. Reason I say to help us move forward is because if we choose to take all this information and go to the field with it, maybe we can create an organization. We also can improve things in the organization. That is what I wanted to say. I am not going to say anything else.( [Laughter]. It is helping us to move forward, feeding our children via the program and helping parents.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Everything you said is good. But by definition we know that WFP is the World Food Program. It operates on giving food. It gives the school the amount of food each child needs per day. It knows the amount of oil the body needs. WFP is taking care of all of this. As for local production, they are buying from the farmers.…
Socio-Dig: Yes, I would like to add something to what Jackly said. Is it necessary for the program to buy local food or should it buy imported food to feed the school children? We know that often times local food can be more expensive [sic]. If they said that they are going to buy imported foods to provide children with a larger plate of rice would you agree to that?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Good. You know when people are giving you, you cannot be picky…
Socio-Dig: No. What do you think is the best? Let him speak. Yes, you can speak.
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Um, similarly to what I said earlier, we could change the meals from time to time. This day they cook yams, the next day they give them rice, the day before they give them wheat or they can cook millet. WFP can change the food. We are ok with that because we do not want to dictate to them what to do. Sometimes when they are unable to buy ours, they can provide those take-out plates. They can do it.
Socio-Dig: Imported means foods from other countries.
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Yes.
Socio-Dig: You do not have a problem with that?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Yes, we don’t have any problem because we eat foods from other countries.
Socio-Dig: Who would like to say something else?
#3: (male; 26 years old; farmer; 2nd grade; No children; No children in the program). I believe in my own culture. I believe in what I am doing.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#3: (male; 26 years old; farmer; 2nd grade; No children; No children in the program). So, food that is from other countries, I do not trust them. When you eat it, your heart is racing? I consume what I plant.
Socio-Dig: Ok, I understand.
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). A question that I want to ask you. Since WFP is focusing on us farmers, like we are sitting here, we can create an organization? If we need some seeds, will WFP give them to us? If they can give us some seeds, that would be very good. Sometimes we need carrot seeds, cabbage seeds. We need fertilizer. Could WFP help us? Can WFP give us these products? I think that would be good if we could get it from you.
Socio-Dig: I understand. Number 9, would you like to say something?
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). Yes, on the products imported. Imported food, we use them but God is looking after us. Whatever happens to us, God is there for us. If it happens, it is because of your level of faith. We all know that the local produce is the best. Well, the imported product is good and the local product is also good. You can come here and say you will import food to feed the children and we can’t say no. But in the same place, we could buy a sack of yams and yuccas and feed the children. Why should we use the imported products instead of our local products? We are using foreign food. I don’t know where they produce them. There is a name for these products but I forgot the name. Yes, they are called ‘Finished Products’.
Public: Yes. They are called “finished products.”
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). We have guava and you do not give it any importance. As soon as you send it to a developed country they will take it and make it a finished product. They put in jams and preserves. They conserve it for like two, three, and four years. They always have a use for it. In Haiti, we could have done the same thing. We could take the guava and transform it into a finished product. We could have saved it for like two, three, and four years, like other countries do. We could still do it. We will still respect the local product.
Socio-Dig: We’re done here. But if you have something to say to either WFP or ROPANIP you could say it now.
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). Yes, I…
Socio-Dig: Number 5.
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). What I want to say is that if they can help us with our cultivation, our farms. I will be very grateful. I hope that you are not going to be discouraged.
Socio-Dig: Yes.
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). We would like to keep in touch. It is not good that we have not heard from you for two, three, four months and without seeing each other. I would like this to be something serious. I would not like it to stop here.
Socio-Dig: Ok. We will keep our word. We will take your comments to them, that’s our job.
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). When will you be back?
Socio-Dig: You know, we must come at least one more time. It may be in June or July when we return again.
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). But when you come…
Socio-Dig: Yes, we will call.
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). Will you come to the church next time?
Socio-Dig: You need to provide us with good numbers. We can call you when we are coming.
Socio-Dig: Number 6
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Yes. I believe that whenever you return, if you call me, you will reach me. You can find me and ask ROPANIP to provide us with some seed. Even a small amount of seed would be important to us.
#5: (male; 48 years old; farmer, pastor; 6th grade; 5 children; No children in the program). This is very interesting to us.
Socio-Dig: Ok number 9.
#9: (male; 22 years old, Farmer, Student; 10th grade; None children; No children in the program). I am a young person. I would like to see improvement. It could be the seeds, as my colleagues have already said. We often have difficulty getting them. You can imagine if you are planting yams and you do not have fertilizer to put on them. We need fertilizer to put on the cabbage. It is obvious that the canteen cannot work well if us farmers are unable to produce. We plant a few crops just to help our children.
I think also that me and the pastor, the reason we are working is to encourage other people to cultivate the land. Our job is to plant, to till the soil, to water the plants. We will do it, but we do not find any help. That is our challenge. We did not find any new technology to help us move forward. We really need new technology, any technology.
Socio-Dig: One more thing. Does the land you work belong to you or the land is for someone else?
#6: (male; 35 years old; farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; No children in the program). Sometimes we associate with the owners. You work with someone else and at the end we share the profit with the owner of the land.
Socio-Dig: Ok. I thank you all. We are finished for now.
Focus Group #6: Parents of Rural School Children (Fondelyann)
Date focus groups conducted: 3/28/2017
Transcription Date: 3/31 / 2017- 4/18/17
Interviewers
Almathe Jean: Female, 28 years of age, 0 children, Focus Group supervisor.
Natacha: Female, 28 years of age, no children, focus group leader and surveyor.
Jackly: Male, 33 years of age, 2 children, Survey supervisor and focus group leader.
Participants
#1: BLANK_A; female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program
#4: BLANK_B; female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program
#5: BLANK_C; female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program
#6: BLANK_D; female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program
FOCUS GROUP TRANSCRIPTION
Socio-Dig (Almathe): Even if we have a little noise, let’s try to talk loud so that we can have our focus group. Ok, I say good afternoon to everyone.
Public: Good afternoon, good afternoon.
Socio-Dig (Almathe): Thank you for coming this afternoon. We know that it was a big effort.
Public: Yes, yes, yes.
Socio-Dig (Almathe): My name is Almathe. We are a group. We are called Socio-Dig. We conduct surveys throughout the country. At the moment, we are working for WFP on the subject of school canteen programs. We know that you already are familiar with the school canteens. We are here to speak with parents and other people so that we can understand how the canteen program is working. Everything you say to us here today is important… that’s why we ask about who you are. If we pose a question and you want to respond, you say, “number 1” or “number 5.” Everything you say is important. We need to hear what you have to say. That’s why we came. Now I will let Natacha present herself.
Socio-Dig (Natacha): I say hello to everyone.
Public: Good afternoon, good afternoon, good afternoon
Socio-Dig (Natacha): My name is Natacha. I want to thank you for your patience because you’ve already been waiting for quite a spell. As the lady said, we work with an organization called Socio-Dig. But today we represent WFP and the school feeding program. We also have a colleague with us who will tell us who he is.
Socio-Dig (Jackly): Good day.
Public: Good day!
Socio-Dig (Jackly): My name is Jackly. I work for the same Socio-Dig team but we are representing WFP. Thank you.
Socio-Dig: Ok, we’ll begin. Does everyone here have children who benefit from the school feeding program?
Public: Yes.
[Noise of a motorcycle passing]
Socio-Dig: Ok. I’m going to ask each person to introduce themselves. Say your number and at the same time you can say what you think of the school feeding program.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): I say good afternoon to everyone.
Public: Good afternoon.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): For me, the school feeding program, how should I say? I am happy with the program. Here is why. Sometimes the school starts at 7:00 a.m. sharp. The children come from way up [the mountain]. You don’t have time to make anything to give them. With 10:00 feeding, the children are ok. Now, when recreation comes they already give them food to eat. It’s a protection for parents. But here are the problems I have with the program.
Socio-Dig: Yes.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): If a child is sick, he spends a week out of school, I would think the child doesn’t eat and so he shouldn’t have to pay. But the director doesn’t see it like that. He says, ‘you eat, you pay; you don’t eat, you pay.’
Socio-Dig: Hmm…
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): If there was a problem and the child should have to pay, it’s if the children did something intentional. If he didn’t eat because he was goofing off, you could say that that child ate, that he didn’t eat but you must pay. But if the child is sick, he spends a week out of school, they should take that week out [of what is owed]. He did not eat. He did not participate. That’s all the problem I have. Aside from that, the canteen is very good for me. Because the children come from far away [to arrive at school].
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you. We would like to hear from someone else.
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): Good afternoon everyone.
Public: Good afternoon ma’am.
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): What the lady just said, that’s the same thing I would have said.
Socio-Dig: You’re number 5, you may speak.
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): The canteen program is truly, truly a good thing, truly. Even more so because of the time change. You don’t even have time to make food in the morning. But when the time arrives, as soon as it’s 10:00 the food is cooked, eh recreation, they feed them. It’s very good. Still, still, when a child is sick, he can’t come to school, they still say you must pay. And that’s all I would say [that’s a problem].
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you. We don’t really need to stand when we speak.
Public: Yes, we can sit.
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): I am BLANK_1. I am happy with the canteen that gives children food at the school. There are times when parents can’t find anything to give their children in the morning. And more, if you give them 10 Gourd, so that when they finally get out of school [at recreation] they can eat something…That’s what I like a lot. Because when they made them give, they feed them already. School gets out at 1:00 but they’ve already eaten. What’s more is that you give them 10 Goud so they can eat something to hold them until the canteen has finished cooking food. After that, I don’t see any problems with the canteen. Well, I’m happy because it’s not all the time that I have money to give them when they go to school.
Socio-Dig: Ok, number 4.
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): Good day everyone.
Public: Good day.
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): My name is BLANK_4. And what the ladies just said, I agree with what they said. There are times when we really do not have anything to give the children. They just brush their teeth, put on their cloths and go. We are very happy now that they gave the canteen. Now even the issue of paying when a child is sick and doesn’t go to school we can live with. We just go with it. We are obliged to pay but we do not have a problem with the feeding program.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Well, how do you pay for it?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): You see how we pay for the exams, the canteen asks that each person pays 20 Gourd per week. And there are times when it comes the moment to pay and you just don’t have 20 Goud. It’s like that. If the children have money they eat. If they don’t have money, they eat. They still go to school.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Now, the number of days that a child didn’t eat, it’s in the exam week they calculate how many days …. and the amount of money you pay…
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Now, I have 2 children. I have given exactly 63 dollars for the two of them, so they can take their exams.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Yes, number 6, that means that they note…?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): They have a paper, the way you see that paper, a dossier for everyone. They write every day. You eat, they write you down. You eat and you pay, they write it down. You don’t pay, they write it down.
Socio-Dig: How much money did you say again?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): For a complete week, 20 Gourd. If you can find 20 Gourd for the week. Me, I have 2 children. I must find 8 dollars [40 Goud] each week. I don’t do anything now. It’s my husband who works and he can’t find money every single day. There are times the end of the month comes and I can’t find any money. Now when you pay 20 Gourd each week, that’s 32 dollars per month. The month is 16 dollars [for each child]. Myself it’s 2 children I have. Hmm. It’s 32 dollars per month for me. You understand?
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): But there are times when you don’t have money. But you must let the children go [to school]. It hurts me that I can’t find the money. But I’m obligated. Like when the exam period arrives and the director came up with this strategy of not letting the children take their exams if you haven’ paid. Now I figure out a way to send 63 dollars for the two of them. There is a small balance that remains. I haven’t finished paying, no, seems I owe 25 Goud still.
Socio-Dig: Ok. thank you. Ladies, do you think that money they take from the children, do you think it’s necessary?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): No, it’s not a lot of money.
Public: It’s nothing.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): What makes it an issue is that you can’t earn it. But when you calculate it, it’s just a little money. Because calculate that in nine months of school, you prefer to pay per three months. I have two children, I already arrived at 63 dollars. In the meantime, you’ve given a little money already. You understand? What you gave before is not part of the three months anymore. Now it’s another money you’re going to pay….
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you. You may speak number 5. I know that you’re going to say something different.
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): That’s the same thing, eh.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Like if you had some economic activity, you’re getting ahead, every now and then you have 50 Goud, or 20 Dollars. But you don’t have anything, you just sit and wait for fortune to give you something.
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): Myself, I don’t see any problems because it’s aid you’re getting. I don’t see any problem. They’re giving it to the children, and regarding food I understand that when people work and make food, I know that they’re going to be getting their clothes dirty.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): They must give them a salary no matter what.
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): I think that for what they do. Because me, when I don’t come up with the 20 Goud to give, and the children come to me and say, ‘Mama, I can’t take my exams because of the money’, I always find a way to send the money. Because you know that if someone is making food, working hard, that person must get something to wash their cloths.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): And what I say too is that they should take the money. They don’t send condiments with the food. They must buy them.
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): The only complaint I have that I don’t like about the canteen is that there seems to be something wrong with the food. Condiments, I understand, they need money to buy them.
[Noise of a motorcycle.]
Socio-Dig: Don’t speak at the same time. You may speak number 5.
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): To buy condiments…
Socio-Dig: When you say that something is wrong with the food, in what sense?
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): They say it doesn’t’ taste good.
Socio-Dig: The children complain about that?
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): Yes, because, you know, sometimes the children come home and they say, ‘Mama, the food doesn’t taste good.’ I say, ‘well, it’s not home cooking.’ [Laughter]. Yes, that’s what I say.
Socio-Dig: When it doesn’t’ taste good, do they not eat the food, or do they still eat it?
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): They eat it. They give it to them, they eat it. They must.
Socio-Dig: Ok. That means that every day the children go to school, five days per week, they get fed, cooked food?
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): Yes, every day.
Socio-Dig: Ok. And when they go to school like this, what do you give them in the morning [before they leave for school].
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Like, in the morning, I prepare coffee and bread. I don’t have time to cook food.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): Sometimes in the mornings I make food. Sometimes I don’t have it and I send them without it.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): When I pay for school, I pay everything at once, tuition, canteen, even the parties. I pay just once.
Socio-Dig: Ok. And in the mornings, before the children go to school, what do you give them?
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): When they go to school, if I have something I cook food for them. If I don’t have anything, then I give them coffee with bread, or I can give them 10 Goud to go with.
Socio-Dig: Ok. And you, number 4?
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): Me, when I have it I cook something for them. When I don’t have it, I send them to school without it.
Socio-Dig: You send them without it?
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): Yes.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Is it necessary that children eat something first thing in the morning every day?
Public: Yes!
Socio-Dig: Why?
Public: For their chest, and so that the worms won’t burn them.
Socio-Dig: Ok. And for example, if we would say that in the place of hot cooked food we would like to give them something else, what would you find acceptable, as parents?
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): We would never agree. It’s a canteen their giving, they’ll continue to give the cooked food.
Socio-Dig: They’ll continue to give the canteen?
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): They’ll continue to give the canteen.
Socio-Dig: Is there no one else who would like to say something different? If for example, they said that the food takes too much time to cook, better we give something earlier to prepare. And in place of the small servings now, the children will get more to eat.
Public: What doesn’t take more time is porridge. Or a porridge that doesn’t’ take a lot of time. But if there is not porridge in the canteen, the canteen can continue to function because the children are already accustomed to it. You know, it’s salt-food. It’s salt-food, it’s good. Hmmm, it’s good. Yes, they are already accustomed to it.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Regarding the canteen, what help do you provide the school as parents? Do you ever work in the canteen?
Public: No!
Socio-Dig: If you say that you ever help out, speak one after the other.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): We do not help out, no, unless you are working at the school. Like if they would ask for each parent to give a little money, we give it. Like if they’re working too and they need some help from parents, like the fathers, they can give some support to the kitchen. Like if they need wood from each parent. But that’s the men. Us women, it’s not easy for use to help except to give a little money.
Socio-Dig: Not to change the subject here, eh, for example, you have five days of class [per week]. I would like to know, for each person here, how many days per week do you make something [food] and give it to the children before they go to school? I would like to hear from each and every person who has a number.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Myself, if it’s not coffee with bread that I give them, then I make a macaroni in the morning and give that to them. But because of the change in time, school starts too early. Now I give them coffee and bread. I don’t let them leave without eating something.
Socio-Dig: You make something every morning?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Yes.
Socio-Dig: All week?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Yes, every morning I make something.
Socio-Dig: And you number 5.
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): Aaaa, me, in the morning I always try to make coffee. When I don’t make it, I give them 10 Goud.
Socio-Dig: That means it sometimes happens that you don’t have both the money nor anything to make to give the children when they go to school. That happens.
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): No, sometimes you don’t have it.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): If you’ve been giving it you cannot have money and they’ll give you credit. They’re heavy [the children], they don’t want to go without putting something in their mouth. They’re heavy.
Socio-Dig: If children eat at the house you think it’s so necessary for them to feed them at school again. Or couldn’t they replace that hot meal with something fresh? That means something else, because every day the child is eating at this house.
Public: No. No.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): You don’t hear what they’re telling you? There are times we don’t have anything to give them. We send them to school without anything.
Socio-Dig: Ok. How can I say this? It’s a question I’m asking… It’s just that they’re looking at the possibilities. If the canteen did not give a hot meal, you guys, as parents, what would you accept giving the children? Given that you guys always give something salty for them to eat before they go to school.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Like we never think like that. To be able… they could give them a glass of milk every morning. But if I say that I agree with that, other people might not agree…
Socio-Dig: Ok. Let’s give someone else a chance to speak. Thank you number 6. Number 5, I know that you want to speak. You may speak.
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): Well, hmm, we haven’t thought about something else to give as food other than the canteen. And those others who think the canteen is not good for them, it’s them who know what to give. Us, we can’t say.
Socio-Dig: No …let me explain something. It’s a meeting we’re having here. It’s like you have a partner who is collaborating with you on the ground. For example, it’s you who benefits from the canteen. It’s your children who benefit. The people who are in charge bring food. It’s an example… There is something we want to do. Them, they come with the objective of learning exactly what you would like to change, what you would applaud, and what you would like to continue. So, they put these things before you as parents. You, you’re supposed to say what you like, what you don’t like, what you will accept. This is the reason that we pose these questions.
So, the children sometimes if they leave the house and go eat a hot meal, you can think about whether that food is still important. Or is it not important. It’s together we can decide what’s good…. Ok. Number 5, you may continue.
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): I wouldn’t say anything about the canteen. No, the subject of the canteen interests me. But it’s important for everyone. As soon as I finish teaching [sic], he [her child] enters school at 7:45 and gets out a 1:00. I always liked the canteen. Regardless of whether I’ve already given him something, he can’t wait until 1:00 when school lets out and he gets home.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): I agree with this. I would never say… because school starts at 7:45 and it lets out at 1:00. He must eat. Regardless if I gave him 10 Goud, regardless whether I gave him something at the house, he needs to eat at school.
Socio-Dig: Ok, and you number 4, you aren’t going to say anything? Are you with us? When children get home, we always know that they had a hot meal at school. Knowing this, do still always leave food for them to eat when they get home?
Public: Yes, yes.
Socio-Dig: One after the other. Or can we say that because the children have already eaten something, having food for them when they get home isn’t necessary? The children can still wait.
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): If you don’t leave something for them, you must make an effort no matter what! As soon as they get home, they’re headed straight to the table. If they don’t find anything, ‘Mama, I’m dying here right now.’ You do whatever you can. You gotta have something for them no matter what.
Socio-Dig: Did the school your children attend always have a canteen?
Public: No.
[A bird is singing loudly]
Socio-Dig: How long has the school had a canteen?
Public: This year, this year.
Socio-Dig: When there was no canteen yet, what did you do for the children?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Me, to begin with, my children were down at SCHOOL_1. This year I put them at SCHOOL_2. But at that time they didn’t yet have a canteen. It’s in relation to the canteen that they started giving a hot meal. And that means my children have not yet benefitted. OK, I always made food for them before they went to school. You know that at that time school wasn’t yet opening early the same way as SCHOOL_2.
Now, you already had a chance to feed the children. When they went at 8:00 and got out at 1:00, you gave 10 Goud. And even you if you don’t have the money, they feed you, you don’t have to fear.
Socio-Dig: Ok, thank you. Is there anyone else who wants to say something?
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): Same thing.
Socio-Dig: Same thing? [Laughter].
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): When there was not yet food at the schools… I used to give coffee and bread.
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): Myself, the school where my child is at in ZONE_1, since the school was there they’ve had a canteen. Regardless that WFP had not yet begun with their canteen program, the school always had a canteen.
Socio-Dig: Yours too?
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): Yes.
Socio-Dig: Ok. I know that you guys have already told us [when taking basic information on the individuals], but could each person tell us how many children they have in the canteen program.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): SCHOOL_1?
Socio-Dig: Yes.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Me, I have two. All of them are in ZONE_2.
Socio-Dig: Ok. How many do you have Ma’am, number 5?
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): Only one that participates.
Socio-Dig: Number 1.
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): In SCHOOL_1, I have only one that participates.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Number 4, how many do you have that participate?
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): I have one in ZONE_1. I have 2 in ZONE_2.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you. Well, as parents, if you had an opportunity to change the program, what would you change? One after the other, please. If you had the opportunity to change the program to make it function better, what changes would you make?
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): I wouldn’t change anything.
Socio-Dig: And you number 6, you wouldn’t make any changes either?
Public: We all say the same thing!
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Me, I wouldn’t make any changes. If the director tells us that he would make some changes, it’s him who can make the changes.
Socio-Dig: No, not yet. Let me tell you something. Here’s how I’m posing questions… No, no, no, please, it’s not like we came here to argue with you or to complain for you. What we are looking to learn… myself, I don’t have children but I have nieces, I have nephews, I have God children. For me, when children find hot meal at school, it has a great deal of importance for me. But at the same time, as a parent, I can look and say that such-and-such should be changed, if I had the power… here is what I would give the children. Or I would give them this but not this, here, here is how I would make it work.
It’s not a trap we’ve come to set. We chose you by chance. We called women on the phone and said come with 2 parents from each school we are seeking advice to help the canteen. We are looking to understand how to make the program function better for the children. So, the children can get better service, better things at school. That’s what we’re looking for.
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): I don’t see any reason for it not to continue functioning the way it’s been functioning. I don’t see anything more than that the way it was working it was working well.
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): And you, what do you think? If the canteen wasn’t good, it would be us who would think what we could do. But us, we can’t do anything. We can’t tell you what we would do.
Socio-Dig: After all, I want to say, you, as people who live around here, when they come with food, do you know where it comes from? What kinds of foods they bring? When the lady spoke … for example, you could say, ‘well, me… here are how things should be done.’ It’s as simple as that.
Public: We don’t see anything to tell you!
Socio-Dig: That means that for you everything functions fine with the canteen.
Public: Yes, yes, yes, because we don’t see anything we can’t say.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): But, like if the child tells you that the food sometimes doesn’t taste good, but if it’s something the food lack, if it’s spices it lacks you buy spices to put in it to make it taste better. Like a long time ago, there was still a school canteen. But at that time, they used to send several types of food. It wasn’t just rice. They sent cracked wheat. They sent wheat flour. They sent rice. They sent milk. In those days, if today they cooked rice, tomorrow they cooked cracked wheat.
Socio-Dig: Ok. But when you said that they always had food, did they use local or imported food?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): No, at that time it was a different priest who was responsible for the Parish. His name was Machan. I believe he died.
Socio-Dig: But it was local produce?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Yes.
Socio-Dig: Foreign?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): The Priest/Bishop who always sent that aid. That aid came, but seems that the priest only sent rice. Because the same as with Fondelyann [today], that’s the only food they gave the children. It was only on Wednesday that they fed stew.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Let’s stop on what you just said. The sun is already hot, isn’t it? Let’s change the topic.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): No, we’re fine, yes.
[Noise of benches moving]
Socio-Dig: You aren’t well arranged. Move the chairs.
[Noise of benches moving]
Socio-Dig: Ok. What food do you give the children each day?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): They give them rice. In ZONE_2 they give them rice. And only on Wednesday do they give stew. Like when it’s time for stew, they give sweet potatoes, yam, they buy things like that. But it’s rice that comes most often.
Socio-Dig: Ok. You all, it’s the same?
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): Yes. And it’s the same.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Do you know that they buy local food to give to the children?
Public: Yes. They buy in the market. Right about now, they’re buying tubers. They drive up to Misòt and buy there. I’ve seen them in Misòt buying yams, sweet potatoes, cabbage, militon, eggplant. They bring them to the school right about now.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Do you think that this in good thing that they buy local?
Public: Yes, very good.
Socio-Dig: It’s very good. Why do you say it’s very good?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Because, if it’s local food you’re buying, like it’s not only imported food… They mix it up.
Socio-Dig: Huh
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Like if it’s imported food, it’s only foreigners who would send it. But because they buy it… well sometimes Professor BLANK tells them to bring money so that he can buy. So that he can go and buy tubers, spinach, cabbage. He goes and buys it at the market. Because he’s spoken to several parents who produce. But, you know, bad weather hit us and now there’s nothing.
Socio-Dig: Ummh.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Now, what happens. Like if they need those products, they go buy them at the market and bring them here.
Socio-Dig: Ok. And where you guys live on the mountain, what produce do you have most?
Public: We plant beans, corn. We plant carrots.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Do you think that it would be a good thing that, as parents, you could have an association that would buy food for the school and give it to the children?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): But, what they would ask of us, we don’t have any of that now
Socio-Dig: You don’t have anything now?
Public: We don’t have any produce, us. We don’t have anything right now…
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Even carrots, it’s higher up where they grow carrots and not where you are standing, no.
Socio-Dig: And yours?
Public: We plant sometimes. Sometimes it’s good.
. #1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): When it’s dry season they die off. But where there is rain… Right now, were’ doing a little planting.
Socio-Dig: Ok. This means that you would not want the school to count on you for food for the children?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): We couldn’t do it.
Socio-Dig: You couldn’t do it?
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): No.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): There are times you plant, you don’t get anything. But you must have it [produce] all the time to keep the school fed.
Socio-Dig: OK. Thank you Number 6. What do you think, also, we know that it’s local food that they’re feeding the children, if they said that they were going to buy imported food to give the children to eat? What would you think of that? Which food do you think would be best, between local food and imported food?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Local food, they’re good too.
Socio-Dig: Number 1.
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): Home food is good too. But we can’t sit around and eat the same food all the time. Like today, you’re eating tubers, you’re in the tubers. No. You must change, it’s corn meal you can eat. Sometimes it’s millet.
Socio-Dig: But, those are local foods. Corn meal, millet.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Yes, local food.
Socio-Dig: Ehen.
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): But you cannot continue feeding the children only local food. There is foreign food too.
Socio-Dig: You should eat foreign food too?
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): Yes [laughs]
Socio-Dig: When you say foreign food too, you’re referring to what?
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): I’m talking about rice, flour.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): And even rice, we have rice too.
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): Haitian rice, we almost don’t cook it.
Socio-Dig: Why don’t you cook Haitian rice? Why not?
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): No… there are people who don’t like it. I have a child who doesn’t like it. Local rice, like yellow rice, I have children who don’t like it.
Socio-Dig: Ok. That means that you wouldn’t have a problem giving the children imported food.
Public: No. That’s not a problem. Just so long as the children eat, I don’t have a problem with that.
Socio-Dig: An, ok. Now let’s talk a little about the school director and teachers. Would you guys, as parents, if you wanted to speak with the school director, would you have any problem. Do you feel at ease to go to his office and speak directly with him about a problem? Would you be at ease to do that?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): We don’t have a problem, no. Even him, when he needs us he calls us. He says, ‘parents, if I need you I will call you, ok.’ Sometimes children arrive late, when he doesn’t whip them, he sends them home to you. You are the one who must go back to school with them [laughs]. Now you’ll go talk to them in the administration. If the children do not know their lessons, sometimes he calls the parents to come in. There are times he calls me in. I speak with him I say, “Director, why did you call me in? You don’t need to make me come from all the way up the mountain when you and the teachers can deal with this. If the child doesn’t know her lesson you should beat her so she knows it.’ Now he says, ‘no, I must call you to speak with you to know if there is something wrong with the child. If it’s work that you’ve been making him do and he doesn’t have time to do his lesson.’ I say, ‘No director, it’s not the work I’ve been giving him. If you see that he doesn’t know his lessons beat him.’
Socio-Dig: You should beat him if she doesn’t know his lesson?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Well?
Socio-Dig: Ok. Is there anyone else who wants to say something? Do you feel that you’re comfortable to go see the director with a problem that you have?
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): Yes, if the school director sends after you, like if it money that you owe, he tells you to come to the school administration office. He lets you know that if you bring money or not, you can rest at ease.
Public: You speak with him, you speak with him.
Socio-Dig: You feel comfortably speaking with the director?
Public: Yes. Yes.
Socio-Dig: And if you were to have an argument with the director?
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): I have never had…
Socio-Dig: You’ve never had an argument?
Public: No. No.
Socio-Dig: And you number 4?
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): Yes, I never had a problem with him.
Socio-Dig: Same thing?
Public: Yes. yes.
Socio-Dig: Like you guys said, if a child doesn’t know his lesson, they should beat him. If, for example, while the professor was beating the child he hit him in the eye and blinded him, how would you see that?
Public: No, he would never beat him in a way that would blind him.
Socio-Dig: No. I said it’s an example.
Public: No. The director has children too. He would never do something like that.
Socio-Dig: Listen, when you start swinging the stick, swinging the stick and the child catches blow to the eye, the eye is going to get wounded.
Public: No. He would not do that. The school director, he has something special for that. The little belt in his hand. And when you beat a child, you watch out for the eyes. You don’t swing any which way so that it could catch an eye. He takes a belt in his hand, and he’ll whip him.
Socio-Dig: That never happens?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): That would be a misfortune.
Socio-Dig: If a misfortune like that happened what would you do?
Public: That’s a misfortune, a terrible misfortune. We would talk to the director to know how that happened, for us to reach an understanding, we wouldn’t eat, we’d hang on to the director with our teeth until we understood what happened. He’s our people…
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): Like there was a child in ZONE_3. A child took a pencil, he stuck it in the eye of another child. What did the priest do? The priest sent for a doctor to come fix the eye.
Socio-Dig: Ok. For you as parents, it’s a good thing?
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): Good thing?
Socio-Dig: What the priest did?
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): Yes.
Socio-Dig: Ok. The questions I am asking are a little heavy. Teachers in the school, you know, all these teachers are from the countryside. They say that often they don’t get paid. In your opinion, as parents, do you think that’s true?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): They would never work without getting paid. They wouldn’t continue to work. What do you see?
Socio-Dig: Ehen.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): They get paid something no matter what.
Socio-Dig: They get paid something no matter what.
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): ummh.
Socio-Dig: Even if it’s not a lot.
Public: You can’t say they get paid no matter what. You can’t say that. If they get paid or not, you can’t say they don’t get paid, even if the person says that he didn’t get paid [meaning that they will get paid sooner or later, one way or another, in some form…].
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): But he has…. He has a date when he gets paid. They say, ‘if it’s the State that is paying, the money is never lost.’ You don’t get paid on time, but when the money comes you’ll get paid.
Socio-Dig: When the money comes you’ll get paid?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Ummh.
Socio-Dig: Ladies, you don’t have anything else you would like to say to the directors of WFP? It’s WFP who is responsible for the program. They’re the ones who find the food to give the children. If you have a final word you would like to say to them, say it now.
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): Well, the final word I would say, I say thank you. We say to them, thank you. Thank you for what you do, for the satisfaction you give.
Socio-Dig: Ok
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): What I have to say…
Socio-Dig: Do you think the program should continue?
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): Continue?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): It will continue in the name of Jesus. Because we didn’t know it was coming He [Jesus] tried to send it to us. Now it will continue until the end.
Socio-Dig: And if WFP arrives at a moment when it doesn’t have any way to continue, what will you do, as parents? You guys as parents, how will you understand that?
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): We’ll just have to resign ourselves to the reality of it.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Because when it came, we didn’t know it was coming. It was when they called us to a meeting. They taught us, and we came to understand the project. The canteen would have been better, but even the director, the director told us that for four years he was getting instruction for the project before he succeeded. It’s just this year that he got the food project.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
[Noise of a motorcycle passing]
Socio-Dig: Well, and you as parents, what do you think you can do to help the project work better?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Like the money they ask for the canteen, we should make an effort to always pay so that the project can always function. You guys sending food from wherever it comes from, and so that the school could buy what’s lacking [condiments]. It’s with that money that they buy spices, butter to put in the food.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you. Number 5, you are not going to say anything about what you would do as a parent?
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): Same thing.
Socio-Dig: Number 4. You haven’t said anything at all.
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): Nothing.
Socio-Dig: Nothing. There is nothing you can do as a parent?
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): No.
#1: (female; 55 years; Commerce; 5th year; 3 children; 3 children program): Me, regardless of whether WFP gives food, the school where my children are at will continue to have a canteen.
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): It’s not only WFP that continues giving the food. Monsignor still gives.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Do you know where the Monsignor gets the food?
Public: No. We don’t know. In his country, we suppose. Whatever country he comes from, he gets it there. Where the Monsignor is. You know, where we live is a parish.
Socio-Dig: Ok. I have only one more question. Do you guys have a parent committee? A little while ago you said that the food didn’t taste good. Could you go to the school to complain on behalf of the children who say that the food doesn’t taste good? What can you do as parents to improve this situation?
[A telephone is ringing]
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Me, the children say that the food doesn’t taste good. Even if they would tell me that, I would say, ‘you’re not at home. Any food they give you, you should eat it.’ It’s the school director who should taste the food to see if it lacks something. And then he should talk with the cooks. Because it’s the committee that he put together that chose the cooks. Let them give their names and present themselves. It’s not the director who chose them. Right up until today, the director, when they continue to cook food, if they see the food has a problem after that, then he will change them. He will take someone else. That shows you that he let them make the food. The food is good.
Socio-Dig: Hmm, ok.
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): We would never stand there and say that.
Socio-Dig: You would never say that [that the food is no good]?
Public: No. No. It wouldn’t be good for us.
Socio-Dig: It wouldn’t be good for you?
Public: No.
Socio-Dig: Why do you say it wouldn’t be good for you?
Public: No. People would think poorly of you… even if you lived far from the school.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Them, they are in Fodelyann. That’s the same area that the cook comes from. Right in front of the school. Us who stay all the way on top, it’s not us who would go and take the job of making food.
Socio-Dig: Hmmm. How much time do the children take to get to school each morning?
Public: How much time do they take? She’s talking about time.
Socio-Dig: Time? In minutes from the house.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Like they could take anywhere around 50 minutes to get there.
Socio-Dig: Before they arrive?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Hmmm.
Socio-Dig: Every morning?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): Hmmm
Socio-Dig: And your children, how much time does it take them to get to school?
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): Same place.
Socio-Dig: Ok. You’re in the same place too.
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): Mine don’t take all that muc time to arrive.
Socio-Dig: How long do yours take?
#5: (female; 32 years; Commerce; None; 7 children; 1 child program): Like if they leave the house at 7:20 with 35 minutest they’ve already arrived at school.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): You know what happens? And the mountain.
Socio-Dig: The mountain?
#6: (female; 46 years; Commerce; 2nd Grade fundamental; 2 children; 2 children in the program): I have a mountain to go down, and to go back up again.
Socio-Dig: Ok. And your children?
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): My other two who are bigger are in Fondelyann. The little one I take him [to school].
Socio-Dig: How much time do you take to get to school?
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): When he doesn’t want to walk fast I arrive at 8:00 [laughter].
Socio-Dig: At what time do you leave the house?
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): Me, uh, I leave at 7:00
Socio-Dig: So, it’s 1 hour. Do you go and get them too?
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): Yes.
Socio-Dig: Wait. You have time to look for them? Who goes and gets them for you?
#4: (female; 32 years; farmers; 5th year fundamental; 3 children; 2 children in the program): They go and get them for me.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Is there nothing else you all would like to say?
Public: No. Nothing. Only thank you. Thank you very much.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you.
Focus Group #7: Members of Rural School Kitchen Commitees
Date focus group conducted: 3/28/2017
Date transcript 04/05 / 2017- 4/22/2017
Interviewers
Almathe Jean: Female, 28 years of age, 0 children, Focus Group supervisor.
Natacha: Female, 28 years of age, no children, focus group leader and surveyor.
Jackly: Male, 33 years of age, 2 children, Survey supervisor and focus group leader.
Participants
#1– BLANK_A; female; 39 years of age; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; 2 children in the school feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee
#4- BLANK_B; female; 23 years of age; Farmer; 7th grade; 2 children; 2 children in the school feeding program; 7 months of committee kitchen
#5- BLANK_C; female; 32 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 4 children in feeding program; 3 months on committee kitchen
#6– BLANK_D; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen
#7- BLANK_E; female; 70 years of age; Commerçant; no schooling; 6 children; 1 grandchild in feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee.
#8- BLANK_F; female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee.
FOCUS GROUP TRANSCRIPTION
Socio-Dig (Almathe): We begin. Good evening ladies!
Public: Hello ma’am.
Socio-Dig (Almathe): My name is Almathe. I thank you very much because I know some of you were waiting for me since yesterday. We apologize for our delay. You know that traffic is bad.
I work with an organization that does research in the country. We work for NGOs. But for the moment we represent WFP… which is giving children food at school canteens.
You who are here, among you are people who help with the school kitchens. We have some questions we would like to ask. You can speak freely with us. We do not want to miss anything that you have to say. And we will not say exactly who told us what. We will say we spoke with cooks and they said such and such. But we will not say exactly who told us what. But afterward, we will take your words, complaints and compliments, and we will help WFP to hear them. Each person has a number. That number represents you. When you speak, it is best that you use the number. You will say, for example, number 5 is speaking.
Now I will allow Jackly and Natacha to present themselves. After that, each of you can present yourself. Tell us what school you work with, what you do at the school, how much time you’ve been there…. Ok
Socio-Dig (Natacha): Hello everyone.
Public: Helloooo
Socio-Dig (Natacha): I thank everyone for coming, for your patience. My name is Natacha. I work with an organization called Socio-Dig. As Almathe just said, we are working with WFP and their school feeding program. We also have our colleague Jackly who will present himself.
Socio-Dig (Jackly): Hello everyone
Public: Hello
Socio-Dig (Jackly): As we’ve said, thank you for your patience because we know that you guys were waiting for us since yesterday. My name is Jackly Beautelus. I work in the area. I work with the same organization as these two ladies, Socio-Dig. But currently we are working with WFP. We have some questions about the feeding program. We will ask about the program, what’s good, what’s not good. But you are talking directly to WFP. We record what you’re saying and then summarize it. OK, so I say welcome again, may we have a good chat. We will begin with number 5.
#5: (32 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 4 children in feeding program; 3 months on committee kitchen). I am number 5, I don’t know what to say.
Public: Stand up, stand up, stand up!
Socio-Dig: You can stay seated. You don’t need to stand up. You don’t know what to say? You may present yourself. Tell us, “I am number 5, my name is….”
#5: (32 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 4 children in feeding program; 3 months on committee kitchen). My name is BLANK_C, I am number 5. They call me BLANK_C.
Socio-Dig: What school do you help with?
#5: (32 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 4 children in feeding program; 3 months on committee kitchen). In SCHOOL_1
Socio-Dig: For how long have you worked with them?
#5: (32 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 4 children in feeding program; 3 months on committee kitchen). Three months.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thanks. Let’s talk to number 4.
#4: (female; 23 years of age; Farmer; 7th grade; 2 children; 2 children in the school feeding program; 7 months of committee kitchen). I am number 4. My name is BLANK_B. I am working with the SCHOOL_1 in Cholette. I’ve been working there for 7 months.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you. Number 6?
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). My name is BLANK_D. I am working with the SCHOOL_2. I have 14 months there.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you. Number 1?
#1: (female; 39 years of age; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; 2 children in the school feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). I am number 1. My name is BLANK_A. I am working with the SCHOOL_2 in Cholette.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Number 7.
#7: (70 years of age; Commerçant; no schooling; 6 children; 1 grandchild in feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). Yes. I am BLANK_E. I work at the SCHOOL_3 in Cholette.
[A car drives by making much noise]
Socio-Dig: Thank You.
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). My name is BLANK_F. I work in the SCHOOL_3 in Cholette. I have been there for 14 months.
Socio-Dig: Ok thank you. Thank you very much. I am going to begin by asking some quick questions. I would like for everyone to participate. You can give us your point of view. What you think. Ok. According to you as a cook, what do you think of the school feeding program. What you see.
#7: (70 years of age; Commerçant; no schooling; 6 children; 1 grandchild in feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). The program……
Socio-Dig: Yes, number 7.
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). And the time you’ve been working?
Socio-Dig: Yes, Number 8.
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). Ok. The time that I’ve been with the program, it was functioning well.
Socio-Dig: Hum humm…
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). The school functioned very well. But this year, I don’t understand, I just don’t understand…
Socio-Dig: What happened?
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). What happened? The children, when they prepare the food for the children, you must have bleach. You must have detergent. You must have soap. Soap to put on the steel wool. When you’re giving children food it must be well prepared. You know you don’t put bouillon cubes in the food.
You must have garlic. You must have parsley. I must have green pepper. I need butter. You must make food right for the children.
But this year, I don’t understand the feeding program at all. I just don’t get it. Every time I ask, when I ask…. Like when I finish washing dishes, I should have bleach to disinfect them. Then you put them in a sack and to you tie the sack. The kitchen is not functioning well at all. Every time you ask, they say that the children don’t pay. The children don’t pay. And us too… Me, that’s what I say: when I speak, I always say this is the way to make food. The children don’t pay. Either we shut the kitchen down, because I can’t function like this. Every time I get there I talk and talk and talk. And I’m taking the heat in the kitchen. You see that I’m old. I’m 58, that’s old.
Socio-Dig: Yes.
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). But I put up with the heat in the kitchen. I cook the food because I’m in need? People need to work, right? I should get a salary. I get dirty. My cloths get dirty. If I put these cloths on today, I’m going to be around the fire in the kitchen. Tomorrow, I can’t wear those cloths again. When I make food, I need to find some soap to wash under my arms. [Sound of a child crying]. I need a little bit of perfume to put on me. I’m wearing an apron. But as soon as I’m near the fire that apron is going to get dirty. Tomorrow I can’t wear it again, I can’t come to school and make food for the children in dirty cloths. I must wash those cloths. And me, I’m leaving my own children behind. My children must…If I go to work, when I return I need to give my children something. If my children need shoes I need to be able to give them to them. And me, they are always telling us that we can’t come make food with sandals on our feet. But shoes cost money. They should five me the money to buy shoes.
Public: Laughter.
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). And I’m going there every day. Some mornings it’s raining. Rain, rain, rain. For me to get up and leave my house to go make food to give. Wow, why should I have to do this (a kwa bon)?
Public: Hummm.
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). You see what I’m saying? Do you think that’s alright? Let me tell you, I have 5 children. Five children I have and they aren’t yet earning anything. They’re still dependent on me. They still depend on me. I’m the one who must care for them.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
[Sound of a child crying].
Socio-Dig: I would like to clarify something. Number 8. You say that every morning you get up and get your cloths dirty. When you come home, you gotta bring something for your children. But when the program first came, did you get training?
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). Yes, I took the training.
Socio-Dig: Did they tell you that they were giving you a job or was it you who volunteered to participate?
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). They gave me a job. They were the ones who chose me.
Socio-Dig: But when they gave you this job, did they say that you had a salary they would give you every month?
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). They said they had a salary, and the parents were the ones who were supposed to pay it. And the committee. The committee was supposed to give it. That I was supposed to get a salary.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Since when did they not pay you?
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). A ……every time you, you see when we’re speaking, we try to claim our right, they tell us that the kitchen doesn’t pay. The program doesn’t pay.
[A truck drives by making much noise]
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you. Is there no one who has anything else more to say? Yes, number 6?
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). What I would add, because we went and took the training.
Socio-Dig: That’s good! That’s good!
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). We attended the training. The training taught us this. It’s the director and the parents who should give a little money. It’s with what they get from the parents that they are supposed to give us something. But that means a beginning. We begin very well. Very well when they give a little money to buy spice. If you need a little soap to wash your cloths. Because every day you must put cloths on. There is a place in the training they say: we can’t wear sleeveless blouses for our underarms are exposed. We are expressly prohibited from wearing sleeveless blouses.
But that means every day you must change your cloths. And we can’t have any cloths. But they said that they would give us a salary to go buy in the market, we would be able to get a little soap. But we arrived at a point, the little bit they give us, I take it and buy spices to make food. You do it because you have a commitment and you respect that commitment. I always must dip into my own funds. Yesterday morning I had to do this. The same way I have responsibility for my own home, I don’t like to have to ask you. Well it’s the same way in the school. I don’t like to have to ask the director or secretary every moment. I can’t be asking all the time. We know that it’s your obligation to give it to us. You give it to me. Sometimes they do not give it to me. I take mine and I do it. The same way, when they want to give me… Now, if I can get reimbursed. If…. For 14 months, we have been working. We give good service, we have good will, that’s why we are still here.
In the school kitchen, but the kitchen is very useful. It helps both parents and the students. Even though there are students who are not happy with what they give them. The training taught us this, that it’s a small taste we’re giving and not a full stomach. But there are students who want us to fill their stomachs. They want full stomachs. Sometimes they say to you, ‘what can that [little bit of food] do for me.’
You understand? Me, that doesn’t make me happy. You look and see a bunch of children you’re responsible for. You can’t give to one so another doesn’t get anything. Me and BLANK_O, when we are in the kitchen, if there is a lot of food, we get some. When we are finished feeding all the children, if something remains we take some. But if there is none, we remain without.
But we accept the job of feeding the children. This morning, it was raining since last night. But we go anyway [to feed the children]. We go out in the rain, because we accepted the obligation.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you Number 6.
#4: (female; 23 years of age; Farmer; 7th grade; 2 children; 2 children in the school feeding program; 7 months of committee kitchen). Excuse me. You don’t need to register my voice. But here is what I will tell you. Today can they give me 3 short mammite of rice to make food for 90 children? Plus, the seven teachers, I must give them a taste too. It’s not enough food. When the food is cooked it’s not enough. The person who gave me the food, came to me by the fire, he’s angry, so much so that he didn’t know how to speak nicely. When he hollered at me the first time, he came, he said to me, ‘‘The food isn’t enough.” I said, ‘‘ok, give me some beans to cook….‘This is what you gave me [to cook]. This is what I’ll give you [to eat].’’
Now, after he came back to me again, I said, ‘‘You gave me exactly four, three short mammite to put on the fire for 90 children plus seven teachers.’’ The man was angry. They told me that the man was angry. I told them, ‘’Fine, I’m not coming back!’’ A lot of other people said, ‘’You’re the one who took the training, you’ve got to come.’’ But I don’t know. When they give that little bit of food to share. The ladies must share the food with all those people. Hmmm!
Socio-Dig (Jackly): Let me quickly say something about what the lady just said. We don’t know yet who is at fault here. When they give a quantity of food that is not sufficient for 80 students, for example. And the way you said, when it’s WFP, they have a specific ration they want. That means they give a quantity of rice for the children each day. True, some children might eat more. But WFP, they give a ration. And the school has a daily report. That means they must account for it every day. I think that we can’t really decide who is at fault here. But whoever is responsible for the canteen must try to make it so that the food is made and distributed in the manner intended. Because they must make a report. I would think that they’re is follow up on this misunderstanding.
Socio-Dig: To elaborate a little on what Jackly said. What you say there… Maybe that’s what we’re looking for. We are looking for problems. What can we do about it? How can the program work better? Because there is nothing that doesn’t have some problems. In talking about the problems, we can search for changes that will make the program work better. That’s what we’re searching for. That’s why we’re here…. Number 1, you wanted to say something,
#1: (female; 39 years of age; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; 2 children in the school feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). Me… every morning I get up early. I leave my house. I attended the training. They asked us to wear sandals that completely cover the foot. We can’t come with flipflops to make food for the children. But they said that in the salary, they would give us a little part of it. We have aprons to wash. We leave little children behind at home. They can’t give us a salary? So that we can wash our aprons? Ok, thank you. That’s what I had to say.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Thank you. Regarding the salary. What do you think should be done? What changes do you think could be make so that you could get it?
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). Eh, the changes we would like. For example me, I look and see these four people. We have 14 months doing this. We have 14 months that we always have a little hope. That’s why we don’t leave the job. We have hope. We say, “If I allow someone else to take my place. If something else comes for us.’’ Now for us to say, ‘’Mister, what did I do there? And that’s what makes me stay. But there are days that we’re very discouraged. We get very discouraged.
There are times that you would like to wash your apron. You don’t even have the money to buy a little soap to wash your apron. You’re doing a little trading. Sometimes you make a little money. But sometimes you don’t make any at all. What do you want me to do?
Socio-Dig: Ok
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). But I say to myself, “Even if there is something that could be coming. And I have hope that something will be coming one way or another.”
Socio-Dig (Almathe): Ok. Thank you Number 6.
Socio-Dig (Jackly): Let’s say for example that they come to build a house. They get to the bottom of the hill there, but they can’t get up the hill with them. They ask the population, ‘’What can you do to help us get these rocks up the hill?’’ The people say, ‘’Well, I have 2 days. I can help carry rocks.’’ There are people who say, ‘Well, I have a truck I can loan.’’ That means you look for a way to help the rocks get up the hill. It’s the same with the Canteen. The woman, she asks the question. Because we are trying, we give you a service. We can never find anything to take care of ourselves… …eksetera. And they make a series of demands of us. How we are supposed to come to come to the canteen. But what do we see the bring for us? What? Or what can they do for us cooks that would satisfy us who are taking the heat in the kitchen, and who need money to wash cloths? What do we see they could do for us? What could PAM do? Or what could the program do? What changes could be made in the program so that we could find something too? What do we see could be done?
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). Tann pase nan peyi’m…
Almathe: Nimewo 8.
Patisipan #8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). Let me tell you, bad weather comes. We have children. Everything we have we lose. We lose it. The bad weather takes it. Ok. Our children need food to go to school. But the same way they bring food for the canteen, I know the could bring something for us as parents who are working and taking the heat of the fire, who are cooking food. But what I’m not saying they have to give us money. They could give us something else. Ok. Because our children, we have children in school, we must feed them too.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). Because I don’t have children who benefit from the canteen program.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). Each time you arrive from home. You leave the house with hope. But when you get there, there is no hope. Times like this, people ask, “You, each day you get up and go to work. You never come back and say, here is what they paid you. You don’t even get a little money.”
Socio-Dig: Ok. Ladies, I see that some people have not said anything. I would like them to speak. Do you also not get anything to take home?
Public: Sometimes, sometimes, sometimes. Yes, I already told you, sometimes.
Socio-Dig: Sometimes?
Public: Sometimes, sometimes, sometimes. There are times that there really is not enough food for everyone. Not enough.
Socio-Dig: What food is the most difficult to make go around for everyone?
Public: Well, stew. Only rice. Stew. Stew is no good. Stew is no good at all. It’s too small an amount.
Socio-Dig: It’s too small an amount?
#1: (female; 39 years of age; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; 2 children in the school feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). Like they used to give millet. Now there is no millet. But they could give corn meal in the place of millet. Because every day you get up and cook rice. Every day you get up and cook rice for the children. When they had millet, it was very good. Now they do not have millet. They could put corn in its place.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Who gives the food. Who gives the food?
Public: Canteen? Rice, beans, stew.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Let’s say there are 5 days in a week. What do they give the cooks to make? Number 1.
#1: (female; 39 years of age; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; 2 children in the school feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). Monday, rice, stew.
Socio-Dig: One after the other. Number 6?
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). Monday, rice and bean sauce. Tuesday, sometimes we have rice and beans with vegetable sauce. It’s like that. If on one Tuesday I make vegetable sauce, the other Tuesday, when they bring the food, I make rice, bean sauce, and vegetable sauce. Wednesday, we make stew. Thursday, we make white rice and bean sauce again.
Socio-Dig: Friday, what do you make on Friday?
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). On Fridays, we always make rice and bean sauce. Because when you look at the kids, they’re in school. Now to see you’re giving them rice they way we do, mostly Haitian rice and pureed beans.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Number 6. You can stand up. I’m going to ask a little question. If you were the one to choose the food–remember the program is meant to support local food, right? If you were to decide what food would be on the menu for the children each day, what food would you give each day?
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). Like Monday, I would make rice with bean sauce. Tuesday, I could make corn meal with beans and vegetable mush. Wednesday I would make stew. And like this also, on Wednesday, if I don’t have anything to make stew, that depends, everyone has their own taste. You could make a vegetable sauce and bean sauce again. Thursday, you make a tuber. Each day has its food.
Socio-Dig: And Friday?
Public: Laughter
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). The lady wants me to be a part of the program. Eeee, like the children, yes! Monday, Saturday (laughs).
Socio-Dig: What do we want to eat? A little song. What do you want? [laughs]. That means if it was you who was going to eat, what Haitian food would you add to the menu? You would add corn? After that, what would you add, millet?
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). Millet, cracked wheat.
Socio-Dig: Cracked wheat isn’t local
Public: No. Millet, there is no millet. Corn meal, rice, plantain, breadfruit, yam, sweet potato, manioc. Yes.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Good, so we can do this fast, because the clock is ticking. We’ve talked about all the problems the project has. I want to hear from these two women. In your opinion, what good does the project do? And why should the project continue? What’s good about it?
#5: (female; 32 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 4 children in feeding program; 3 months on committee kitchen). It’s good for the children.
Socio-Dig: Number 5, in what sense?
#5: (female; 32 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 4 children in feeding program; 3 months on committee kitchen). Because there are times when the project brings food for the children. (laughs). Now, in the mornings, the children sometimes leave the house, sometimes they leave with nothing. But when they get to school they find something no matter what. There are those who are not happy because it’s not much.
Public: Laughter
#5: (female; 32 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 4 children in feeding program; 3 months on committee kitchen). And what I see. Me, what I believe…
Socio-Dig: Ok. Number 6. What’s good about the project?
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). What is good about the project? The food is very good. And the lady said that regarding the children. But the food is good not only for the children, but for us too because there are parents whose children go to school [without eating] and they know that when they get there they will find something [to eat]. You see how it is good for us and for the children?
What us parents can say, it’s better for us than for the children because it’s good food they send to the children. They send for us. It’s for us because we are parents. Generally [she says the words in French), when children leave their house [in the morning] you should find something to give them. But, because of the fact that they know that at school, the director BLANK_A, he will find food. I say, ‘’Toutou, my little child, go bath, get dressed and go to school. You’ll eat something at school. You don’t see that your Mama doesn’t have anything darling. Mama doesn’t have anything.’ Is it not good for us?
Socio-Dig: Hm, hm.
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). Well, hum, I would like it to expand [the program]. I would like it to expand more.
Socio-Dig: You wanted to add something number 1?
#1: (female; 39 years of age; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; 2 children in the school feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). Yes, well, me, I would say the same thing as BLANK.
#5: (female; 32 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 4 children in feeding program; 3 months on committee kitchen). It’s useful to everyone. Because it can be cooked there. Even if you don’t have to go to your house with it. You take a little, you throw it in your mouth. You don’t leave without your chest being supported [expression for having eaten].
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#5: (female; 32 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 4 children in feeding program; 3 months on committee kitchen). Because you left the house early. You got to school. You took three grains of rice and threw the in your mouth. It’s useful to you. Me, I would like it [the program] to always be there.
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). But don’t forget, don’t forget that you guys who have these 14 months and ask to continue, ask to get something. The same way that we are asking for the children, we are asking for the cooks too, please.
Socio-Dig: Thank you. And you number 1, you were going to say something?
#1: (female; 39 years of age; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; 2 children in the school feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). Yes, what I was going to say, I would like that we always had food. Because food is very important for the children and for the parents. In the morning, you can send the children to school without giving them anything. I myself have two children in school there. Sometimes I don’t have time to make anything for them. I get up early to make food. I don’t have time to give them anything. That means they will find something in school. I would like that the food is always there both for the parents and for the students.
Socio-Dig: Thank you very much. Cooks, how much time does it take you to prepare a meal? What time do you feed the children? At 10:00?
Public: At 10 o’clock. 10:30.
Socio-Dig: How much time do you take to prepare the food?
#1: (female; 39 years of age; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; 2 children in the school feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). Me, I’m out of my house at 6:30. You know that now the time changes? As soon as I get there [at the school], I light the fire. And I put the beans on the fire. I wait for the other woman to come. And I wash my cooking pot. Put my beans on the fire. Now, when she gets there she’s going to wash all the vessels again [that were washed the day before].
Socio-Dig: Yes.
#1: (female; 39 years of age; Farmer; 3rd grade; 3 children; 2 children in the school feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). Now me, I am in the kitchen, the beans are on the fire. She’s finished washing the vessels. Now, after that, she comes and joins me. If it’s vegetable mush we’re making we both work together. We put on our aprons, and we make the food. When we finish making food it’s 10:00, 10:30, national time.
Socio-Dig: Ok. As cooks, are you responsible for purchasing all the ingredients you put in food. Or is it the school that gives you everything?
Public: When we want, it’s us who buys it.
Socio-Dig: Are you responsible for purchasing it?
Public: No. There is someone who is responsible for that.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Number 8.
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). Ok. In my school, the past year I bought everything. We were responsible for buying it and putting it in the storage room.
Socio-Dig: You cooks were responsible for going to the market and buying?
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). Buying it and put it in the storage room. But this year we don’t do that. This year when you arrive, when you put the beans on the fire, you put the put the water for the beans on the fire. You put in vegetable oil. You put on garlic. You put in leeks. You cover the beans.
Now, when I get there the key is in the possession of one of the teachers. When I’ve finished putting the water for the beans on the fire, I can’t find anything to put in it. I can’t yet find oil. It’s in the storage room. I can’t yet find garlic. I can’t find leeks to cover the beans. And if the teacher comes on time, when he finally gets there he gives me all he’s supposed to give me. Like if you need something, the key is in his hand. He’s working. When you go ask him for something he says I’m annoying him. You see that I’m annoying him? No, suppose that a person is teaching school, the key to the storage room is in his hand… Well, me, I just wait. But I’m not happy. I’m in the kitchen where I am, the year went by and I was fine. I felt that the canteen functioned well… the canteen functioned well, well, well, well.
Socio-Dig: In what kitchen?
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). SCHOOL_1.
Socio-Dig: SCHOOL_1. What made you fine last year but not fine this year?
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). Because there were changes. They were not the same people there. Sometimes… Ok, the food is cooked for me to give… The agronomist always comes…
[Noise of a truck passing interrupts]
They told me to feed at 10:30. You see that the food should be prepared by 10:30. There are times you put the beans on the fire, and I’m the one who must go look for firewood. I’m looking for firewood to put under the cooking pot to cook the food. Kindling to make it light. Ok? Some the beans are boiling, you must put water in two times [because the beans won’t cook]. And now the spices must be prepared and put in the pot while it’s cooking. Now, when I ask for the food, I must clean the rice. Then put it on the fire. This is when they are going to count the students and give me the food. It’s right after they count the students, to know how much food to give me. There are times I feed the children at 11:00. You see, I don’t need to hide anything. No, I don’t need to hide anything. We are having a meeting so that everyone can share their thoughts and experiences.
Socio-Dig: Yes. That’s right.
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). There are times when I feel…. Wednesday the agronomist comes. He scolds me. And it’s not my fault. At the time, I’m preparing food. I’m peeling food to put it on the fire. The beans are on the fire. I haven’t smashed the beans yet. And what is the cause of that? There are times we don’t have firewood. There are times when they give me the food too late. You see?
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). I’m happy for this re-training [The present meeting]. This meeting makes me very, very, very happy. All the time I am saying, ‘‘Well mister, I’m making food in this school and I never see people come ask us questions.’’ When the agronomist comes by, the agronomist looks at you, he chats with you a little, and then plop, plop, plop he’s gone. No! When you are in the kitchen you should get more visits. We see what happens. And we can make food. And sometimes we are sitting there and we’re burdened [with problems].
Socio-Dig: Hmmm.
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). We must …
Socio-Dig: OK. Number 7.
#7: (70 years of age; Commerçant; no schooling; 6 children; 1 grandchild in feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). We would like, the first time, there was a person who helped us give the children food. They gave us a briquette [as cooking fuel]. The briquette helped a lot.
Socio-Dig: Ok. We’re going to ask some questions about that.
#7: (70 years of age; Commerçant; no schooling; 6 children; 1 grandchild in feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). They must give us, if they could help us, they would give us a little briquette. We would say thank you.
Socio-Dig: A briquette to make food?
Public: Yes, yes, yes.
Socio-Dig: Do you have to pay for the wood?
Public: We pay a person. We pay to look for wood. To carry wood. Sometimes it’s a big piece of wood. Now our stoves just sit there [special stoves that WFP gave them for the briquettes]. The stoves have no briquettes. We must use wood.
Socio-Dig: And the briquettes, they used to give them to you too?
Public: The briquettes are good. They’re so good. They’re good, yes.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
Public: We make food quick (with the briquettes).
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). But Miss, like you we Mrs. INTEL, the way that Mrs. INTEL talks. That means that if someone, how do you see that they can help Mrs. INTEL? These two women? Because someone who can give a problem is someone who did not go to the training. I believe that if someone did not go to the training they can’t hold the storage room key. The storage room key is supposed to be with someone who attended the trainings. You’re a teacher.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Well, what I can tell you is that we will carry your complaints. We will carry the message of all you say. As cooks, is there anything else you would like to add? You start making food at 6:00. It can be 10:00 when the food is ready. Isn’t there something they could do? Or perhaps they could feed something that was prepared the day before? Something that would be easier, faster than what we give the children? Even if it were not a hot meal. Number 7.
#7: (70 years of age; Commerçant; no schooling; 6 children; 1 grandchild in feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). We could give spaghetti. We could give a porridge. We could give a milk. We could give all. We could give a buttered bread [“buttered” with peanut butter].
Socio-Dig: In the place of giving the children a plate of food you give bread. Some buttered bread with a glass of milk. Would it be a problem?
Public: Very, very important. Very important. It would be good.
Socio-Dig: It would be good?
Public: Yes, yes. It would be very good. Yes.
Socio-Dig: Let’s say in the place of buttered bread, a local flour. We could look for something local. If we took wayal [cassava bread with peanut butter] with a glass of milk?
Public: Yes, yes. It would be very good. Yes.
Socio-Dig: In the place of a plate of food, it would not be a problem?
Public: It’s a support. No, it would not be a problem.
Socio-Dig: No. You must understand. Bread buttered with peanut butter could replace a plate of food. The plate of food would no longer be there. You would not make the plate of food.
Public: Yes, yes, yes.
Socio-Dig: They would not make food at all, no. It’s like this, if a week had 5 days, if we said that maybe they could make food for 3 days or 2 days. Is there something they could give the children? In the place of always giving a hot plate of food?
Public: Buttered bread and milk.
Socio-Dig: You say buttered bread and a glass of milk. That wouldn’t be a problem? What else?
Public: Cassava
Socio-Dig: Yes, you said cassava…. with a glass of milk. Spaghetti would have to be cooked….
Public: Akasan
Socio-Dig: That would not be a problem?
Public: Akasan is faster. It can be prepared faster. It can be prepared faster.
Socio-Dig: With what do they make akasan, with corn?
Public: Yes, with corn, corn, corn.
Socio-Dig: Ok. You were talking… But like yourselves, you have children in school that have canteens, right?
Public: Yes, yes, yes
Socio-Dig: Yes, you benefit from the canteen. But before they had the canteen, did you look for something to give the children before they went to school?
Public: Yes, when we had time, we fed them. Sometimes you don’t have time. Food, sometimes you don’t have any. You give the children a pat on the head and send them to school.
Socio-Dig: Did you give something sweet or something salty?
Public: Something salty. Sweet things are no good. You can fry an egg and give it to the child with a piece of bread. Or if there is food, you get up early and you make a little white corn meal and give it to the child with some juice to go to school. Or a little plantain, when we had plantains. Since [Hurricane] Matthew passed I’ve wanted to eat a plantain. If you don’t go to the market [you won’t find any plantains] (laughs).
Socio-Dig: Ok. Is it not a problem if the canteen were to give sweet food in place of something salty?
Public: Food that is salty is better. Salty food is better.
Socio-Dig: Things that are salty are better, why? Number 5.
#5: (female; 32 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 4 children in feeding program; 3 months on committee kitchen). So that worms don’t rise his chest.
Socio-Dig: So that worms don’t rise his chest?
#7: (70 years of age; Commerçant; no schooling; 6 children; 1 grandchild in feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). We had a canteen already. They used to give the children crackers, salted crackers.
Socio-Dig: That was a good thing.
Public: Yes. They used to give them early.
Socio-Dig: They gave them early? After that, did they give anything else? Or was it only that?
#5: (female; 32 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 4 children in feeding program; 3 months on committee kitchen). Yes, they used to give food. They gave potato porridge. They passed each class and they gave the children crackers.
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). But me, what you say, for me, I agree. Food is given for 5 days, 5 days, and then 2 days we don’t’ make food. We give something else in its place. Would it still be us who gave it to them or would someone else come and give it to them?
Socio-Dig: Hm. No, no. That could still be the responsibility of the cooks.
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). Well, ok, we have no problem.
Socio-Dig: That’s our proposition. It is a proposition we ask without thinking.
Public: Yes, yes, it would be good. It would be good to give buttered cassava bread with a glass of milk. It would be very good.
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). We are the cooks. It’s WFP who would give it to us. That’s good, we accept it. We can say that we would accept it. But we don’t know what the director would say.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Does the food always come on time? Is there always food?
Public: Yes, there is always food. There is always food that lacks salt, we lack beans, oil.
#6: (female; 58 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; no schooling; 8 children; 2 children in the feeding program; 14 months in committee kitchen). Sometimes the cooking oil is finished. I’ve already told them it’s finished. And when they bring more we’ve already bought some.
Public: Like we will have said, there is an oil they bring that gels.
Socio-Dig: Yes, it’s good to mention that. You may speak about the oil.
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). Yes, the oil gels ladies. We never see oil gel like that. It seems it’s made of more than just oil.
#5: (female; 32 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 4 children in feeding program; 3 months on committee kitchen). When you put it in the water to make food it gels on top.
Socio-Dig: It gels on top?
Public: Yes.
Socio-Dig: Do you think that oil is good for your health, what’s going on?
Public: We didn’t say it’s bad. WFP never sends anything that is not good. They always send what is good. It has a good taste. There are oils that send people to the hospital, you know that?
Socio-Dig: When you guys speak, let’s do it one after the other. Number 7.
#7: (70 years of age; Commerçant; no schooling; 6 children; 1 grandchild in feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). There is an oil that sent people in Madyank to the hospital the other day. The woman said that she finished eating the oil and it made her sick to her stomach.
Socio-Dig: This oil, this is oil in the feeding program?
Public: No, no, no, no
#5: (female; 32 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 4 children in feeding program; 3 months on committee kitchen). It’s an oil they sell in the market.
Socio-Dig: But us, our oil, what problem does it have?
Public: Well, it doesn’t have any problem, no.
#5: (female; 32 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 4 children in feeding program; 3 months on committee kitchen). Only gels. Nothing wrong with the taste. It’s just that it gels.
Socio-Dig: Ok, so when it gels it’s better, or it’s because it’s no good that it gels? You guys don’t like the fact that it gels?
#5: (female; 32 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 4 children in feeding program; 3 months on committee kitchen). It’s not that we don’t like it. Because they give it to us.
Socio-Dig: Ok.
#7: (70 years of age; Commerçant; no schooling; 6 children; 1 grandchild in feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). We see this and we say it. We see that it’s WFP’s oil. You’re working with WFP. We’re letting you know the oil gels.
Ok. No problem.
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). Since I already said this to an agronomist this morning. He said that’s nothing. That’s just how the oil is.
#5: (female; 32 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; 3rd grade; 4 children; 4 children in feeding program; 3 months on committee kitchen). They put too many chemicals in it.
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). It resembles an oil that is made with corn, it’s a pale yellow.
Socio-Dig: Yes, cooking oil Ti Malis. Corn. There is oil Ti Malis that gels too.
Socio-Dig: Ok, well ladies. For me, I think I’ve asked all the questions I have to ask. I don’t know if you guys have some last word you would like to tell WFP, that we can tell them on your behalf. I will give you a little time to say this.
#7: (70 years of age; Commerçant; no schooling; 6 children; 1 grandchild in feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). Well, what should we say to WFP? They should consider us too. They should look after us (laughs). the same way they look after the children. They should see that we’re in need too.
Socio-Dig: OK
#8: (female; 55 years of age; Commerçant and Farmer; Grade 6; 5 children; 0 children in feeding program; 14 months on the kitchen committee). And don’t have anything.
#7: (70 years of age; Commerçant; no schooling; 6 children; 1 grandchild in feeding program; 14 months on kitchen committee). Because bad weather came and we still do not have anything in our country.
Socio-Dig: Ok. Ladies
Public: We say a big thank you to WFP for visiting us.
Socio-Dig: Ok. No problem ladies. Thank you.
Focus Group #8: Association Leaders (Nan Chantrel/Petit Rivye)
November 8th 2016
Interviewers
- Pharrel: 42 years of age, 2 children, survey supervisor.
- Natacha: 28 years of age, no children, focus group leader and surveyor.
- Tim: 53 years of age, anthropologist.
Participants
- Participant 1: Male 55 years of age, 3 children, coordinator OJDB (Organization of Youth for the Development for Belans), ASEC, carpenter, and farmer
- Participant 2: Male, 45 years of age, 3 children, secretary of AUPC (Association for the US of Plants in Chantrel) veterinarian technician, agricultural technician, and farmer
- Participant 3: Male, 56 years of age, 6 children, coordinator OTEP, preacher, school director/owner, and farmer
***
Hello to everyone. Excuse us for being late (noise from people speaking). The reason we invited you here, as we explained on the telephone, we visited you, and this is still part of the same study of the School Cantines. As the evaluation progresses, we will continue to try to speak with you because you are significant participants in the program, members of farming organizations that furnish food to the school (noise in the background). This is why we’ve invited you, so that we can better understand how the program is working, which methods can allow the program to improve, so that children can better benefit, while at the same time being in the advantage of you, the producers. OK?
The group responds: Yes
My name is Pharrel. We are three researchers. Tim is with us, we have Natacha. Ok, so we are going to chat together here, very simply. And we want to hear any suggestions, advice or ideas that you think will permit the program to operate better. That’s the reason we’ve come, so we can search for ideas together. You with me?
The group responds: Yes, OK
Ok, ahhh, one of the first things, do all of you sell with the program?
Participant 1: Yes
Let me ask everyone else as well?
Participant 2: I don’t sell with the program, no.
You don’t sell with the program?
Participant 2: No
What do you do?
Participant 2: I grow corm and millet
And you don’t sell with the program?
Participant 2: No, they have not started yet.
You mean, with your association?
Participant 2: We buy millet
ok
Participant 2 & 3: They don’t yet want to take corn either
(some respondents talk low)
Participant 2: And, ah, myself, around my house it’s Yam they call Royal Yam that we grow. Ah, it’s a superior Yam that they (the program) buy and they don’t want to take Pigeon Peas either, it’s black beans they want…
Participant 3: They don’t want to take plantains either.
Ok, they chose you guys to buy from, but they haven’t yet bought anything?
The group: No, they haven’t bought anything from us yet.
No2: Seems that they have not, they’re not interested. I say that because when we made contracts with them, ahhh, all the training, they said they wanted all of that, millet, corn, yes, plantains, eh, eh, I understood bread fruit, but we see that their more interested in carrots, cabbage, Yellow Yams, eh…
Participant 1: Black beans
Participant 3: Even black beans, the black beans are in, you call them to come and get them they say they have enough (pause). Things are always worse, you understand?
Participant 3: Ahh, now, now everything is a complete mess because of the hurricane that we had. There are no more plantains. Bread fruit and gardens have completely disappeared. The gardens that we had in our area are completely destroyed. The hurricane took them.
You can’t find any produce if you wanted to?
Participant 3: No.
You can’t find any food because the hurricane?
Participant 3: That’s right. You can’t find anything to supply (the schools) right now because nothing is left standing. Everything is completely gone.
But you have hope for the coming year?
Participant 2: Yes
Participant 3: Yes, well, what we want, what we would need is for them to see a way they could help us get some seeds so we can get the agricultural up and going again.
That’s the biggest problem you guys have at the moment?
Group: Yes.
In the gardens?
Participant 3: For us to find some, some, some, some beans corn, some vegetables…
Are seeds always a problem? To find seeds?
Participant 2: Well, to find seeds around here is always a program. Sometimes the ministry of agriculture helps us find seeds. But last year they didn’t get us any. I can tell you even in Chantral it was thanks to a program in cultivation that we get some bean seed to plant. And, and, we planted it. They loaned us seeds, and we planted it. And afterward we returned the same amount. Then they gave to children in the program. They took it and fed the children, and they bought some too. What they loan you, you give them the same amount back. It was good for us. Us in our area. This year I’m counting on it. I think the program can continue the same way because in December we’re going to plant beans. I don’t know if they help us the same way again.
That was the state that did that?
Participant 2: No, the program.
Our program?
Participant 2: The school feeding program
They did that before too?
Participant 2: Yes, yes, WFP.
WFP
Ah, OK, they used to buy from you before?
Participant 2: Yes, they bought.
And when you sold to them, they came to your house and purchased?
Participant 2: No, they gave the leader in the association the task of buying, they bought it. They stored it for a while, and then they came to get it (for the schools).
And the person who bought it, was it a man?
Participant 2: Yes, it was a man.
And he came to your house to get it or you took it to him?
Participant 2: We prepared it.
Participant 3: We have a meeting point.
Participant 2: You know, it’s not seeds at this moment. You prepare them. You take them off the cob or the stalk… Now you prepare them well, now you put them in a sack so the association can come get them, then they go and deliver them.
Come get them?
Participant 2: Yes.
They come to your house?
Participant 2: Yes, where they are going to stock them.
They have a place especially for that?
Participant 2: Yes, they store them for a while. Then they go and deliver them to the schools.
Participant 3: They have a warehouse.
So they go put them in the warehouse?
Participant 3: They take them to the warehouse. As soon as they arrive they measure it, they weigh it, you understand, and….
Do they pay you a good price?
Participant 2: Well, they give a good price because they bought it, eeeh, eh, after, they put a markup on it above the market price.
Ok, that means it’s in your advantage?
Participant 2: It’s in everyone’s advantage. I can say it’s in the advantage of the population. The population that sells? The advantage because they put a little something extra on the market price.
Are men the ones who sell to the association most often?
Participant 3: No, there are women too.
Participant 2: Men, no.
Participant 2: & 3: No, there are women too.
Participant 2: Everyone, yes.
Participant 2: & 3: Everyone who is in the association.
Participant 3: Associations are made up of women and men (laughs)
Participant 2: An ananana… They, they, they sell. But since people have a right to 50 mammit of beans he/she comes and sells the association. It buys them from you, from you…
And you, do you sell direct to the association?
Participant 2: Yes.
And when you do not sell to the association, what do you do with your produce?
Participant 2: After that what doesn’t get sold to the association, they sell it in the market, on the local market.
Do you take it yourself to sell it?
Participant 2: Yes, people take it and sell it on the local market.
People?
Participant 1: Yes.
Participant 2: Yes, people.
You mean your wife?
Participant 2: Yes, my wife.
Someone in the Group: You’re not girlfriend and boyfriend (laughing)
But you’re the one who takes it to the association.
Participant 2: He takes It because you could have an amount they’ll take, you have a reserved amount (a quota). When you’ve given them your quota they stop, they won’t take any more from you. O…
ah, ok.
Participant 2: Now, the rest that remains, you can give that to your wife to go and sell on the market, or for your children to eat.
And who gets the money for this?
Participant 2: Well, this money is for both of you, for your wife and you, but more for the wife than the man.
And, eh, now, ok. You have a fixed amount, a fixed amount of beans they are going to buy.
Participant 2: Well, I don’t know. What they give the association (the right to buy) is a fixed quantity.
Before?
Participant 2: Yes
So the association, if they have 100 members, they give each member an opportunity to sell.
Participant 2: Yes. An opportunity to sell.
Participant 2: & 3: Yes, yes.
Every member? Or are there people who are not members but who can buy?
Participant 2: The amount they buy, all the members don’t get an opportunity to sell.
All the members do not get an opportunity to sell?
Participant 2: Un huh, because the quantity was very restricted.
Participant 2: How do we decide who can sell? I believe it was around 400 mammit.
400 mammit? That’s not a lot, no?
Participant 2: Well, no, I could have given them 200 mammit myself.
You could give that much?
Participant 2: Yes, I could give them 200.
And it’s only 400
But no, what Tim was asking is when you get an order how do you organize yourselves to maximize the number of people in the association who benefit from it? Because even if you could give 400, and if, if, you took all the money…
Participant 2: But no, listen…
You give 400 mamit
Participant 2: Here is how they benefit, eh, Kodestin lends you seeds for us to plant. We borrow them, the association loans us the plants. All those people who got seeds, you take a little from each, and you buy a little from each of them.
An ok, an ok. Those people get priority?
Participant 2: They get priority. Now, when you’re finished.
But if the quantity is more, they would pass to…
Participant 2: As soon as the quantity reaches the amount you borrowed, you’re done. You are obliged not to take any more because the money is finished, you can’t sell more. The rest goes to the market. Me, I said I could give 200 mamit. But when I get to a level, if they took 50 mamit from me, they stop, the rest I sell on the market.
Pharrel ok
And what do you most plant?
Participant 2: Well, for us in our area, we most plant beans. It’s beans that we do in December and January.
Beans … And at other times?
Participant 2: We cultivate plantains.
You have plantains?
Participant 2: Eh, we produce vegetables too, but not a great deal. We mostly produce beans.
And, like you said, they like vegetables?
Someone in the group: there, an an an
And if they would buy other things, like sweet potatoes? Yams?
Participant 2: Eh, yes, Pastor told you that, you know, there’s plain and there’s mountain. The mountain areas produce more vegetables, it’s cooler, it’s an area that’s cool and that produces vegetables, sweet potatoes, the way you saw Pastor was telling you there. All these things are more applicable, they produce them in the mountains up there. Preacher produces a lot of those things, carrots, cabbage, spinach, etcetera. He produces vegetables, sweet potatoes, yams, that’s what yields up there.
ok
(A vehicle starts… and is making a lot of noise as it takes off)
Ok, but now, what that means to me is that the project is limited right up until now.
Participant 2: Well, we don’t know.
Because if you were …
Participant 2: Because…
If you could produce, you could give 200 mamit and they only take 400 and you have how many members.
Participant 3: Well, well, but, but, but, it’s not only that. There is close to sixty… oo like ROPANIP has close to…
Participant 2: 64 associations.
Participant 3: 64 member associations. 64
ROPANIP?
Participant 3: ROPANIP. It has 64 associations but when this…
It has 64 associations?
Participant 2: 64 member member
Participant 3: 64 member associations
Participant 2: An association, ok, an an an ….
Participant 3: There are 64 that group under ROPANIP
It has that many?
Yes, that’s what I was saying earlier, those organizations are what comprise ROPANIP.
Participant 3: Yes, those 64 organizations, it’s them that make up ROPANIP. Hum hum. At the same time ROPANIP takes responsibility.
They make ROPANIP or ROPANIP makes them?
Participant 2: No, well, we make ROPANIP. ROPANIP doesn’t make us. We’re adults.
(laughter from the group)
You already existed, you already existed? (laughter)
Participant 3: We existed, quite the contrary, it is us who got together and made ROPANIP. Without us, no ROPANIP.
You guys created it or WFP created it?
Participant 3: hen…
Or BND
Participant 3: No, no, WFP, they made, made, made, made a contract with ROPANIP. ROPANIP itself made a contract with the associations.
But who created ROPANIP?
Participant 3: ROPANIP?
Who created it, the State, or BND?
Participant 3: No, it’s not, well, it’s not the state, it’s… it’s not the state, no, it’s not the state. It’s what groups all the associations…
Participant 2: Community-based organizations.
Participant 3: The OPAs that come to the meetings we give each a role, youuuu understand. Now that eh, it’s us who make elections, it’s us who choose, it’s us who do everything.
Participant 2: We have no one from the State that comes to visit us.
Before the program, the program has been going on for how long? Two years?
Participant 2: & 3: I’m going to have 1 year in the program.
Before the program, was ROPANIP there?
Participant 2: & 3: Yes.
How many years has ROPANIP been functioning?
Participant 3: ROPANIP is going to have, ROPANIP is going to have, almost 10 years.
What were they before?
Participant 3: What they were before? They did, they, they had something in, in, in Jeremy that was called Grami, Grami was a big organization that, I don’t know, it was Grami that made ROPANIP. But ROPANIP came from KODERNIP. KODERNIP was made by Grami. Now they, KODERNIP, was buying produce from everyone and they made a warehouse, supply little agricultural supply stores everywhere. So they could sell seeds with the farmer. Now it’s with them that Grami came to sign the thing, inside of it was ROPANIP. It’s not Grami. It’s not KODERNIP, it’s not Grami, it became ROPANIP. Now ROPANIP came to be even bigger.
(there’s noise, people are talking amonst themselves.
Participant 2: And what it does is it helps us.
Participant 3: And at that time, they, they they they did a lot things, they subsidized us, they gave us seeds, they gave tools, they helped us with the tools, they gave training.
Before the program?
Participant 2: They gave training, you understand, they bought from us too, they used to buy produce from us.
This was before WFP?
Participant 2: & 3: Yes, before WFP.
Participant 3: They purchased.
And you don’t know where they found the money for that.
Participant 3: No this isn’t, we don’t know who gave them money.
They must have had some sponsor.
Participant 2: Yes.
Participant 3: We have not finished (laughs), we don’t know everything completely, but it was them that planted with us, sold us seeds. For example if bean, if beans, ah, ah, they did not give it to us free. But if beans sold for 50 dollars, eh, 50 dollars Haitian, then now they would sell it for 25 dollars. They pay 25, you pay 25. They sold lower. If it was selling for 20, they gave it for 10. They used to give goats too.
Participant 2: They would give away goats, pigs. They gave us chickens too.
Participant 3: They used to give away pigs. Chickens, they used to give us chickens, you understand?
Well, it was advantageous?
Participant 2: Yeah, it was to our advantage.
Participant 3: Now, WFP, they, they come, because WFP has come to work, ah, it needs, it needs seeds and ROPANIP is already here, which has the OPAs, which make contracts with ROPANIP, eh, ROPANIP itself, it trains us, supports us in selling with them.
Participant 2: ROPANIP itself makes the contracts with the associations.
You know, when you look at this, for example as a foreigner when I look at ROPANIP, I look at your associations that we’ve collected data on, and you tell us, ‘here is what the association has, here is what they do’ we almost don’t see anything at all. Your associations have almost nothing. You don’t have tractors, you don’t have rototillers, you don’t have money to loan. And there are many that don’t do anything at all. They don’t give away seeds, they don’t give away tools, there are those…
Participant 2: We make demands for those things, but we never get anything.
Participant 3: We never get anything, we never get anything.
Ok, but here is my critique, it’s not me who says this, but many people look at this, like in my country, my uncle is a farmer. And there was a cooperative where he lived. The farmers found everything at the cooperative. If they wanted to borrow a tractor, they found it at the cooperative. If they needed fertilizer, they found it at the cooperative. If they needed to borrow money they found it at the cooperative. Anything they needed. You got a problem in the dead of night, they’de call the cooperative and you’d have 100 people show up in your yard. It was a marvel. I used to be amazed. I came from the city. When I was on vacation in the country I was amazed to see the way people worked together. If they had a problem they made a ‘konbit’ right way. If they had problems harvesting, or bad weather… But, ok, you guys ever help each other?
Group: Yes.
- But when I look at what you, you don’t have anything.
Participant 2: No, we don’t have anything.
Participant 3: But we don’t have anything.
And it’s not because rural Haitians are poor. Ok, there are many with nothing. But there are those who do have something. There are those who have more than the association. I suspect you three people in this focus group have more than the association. And like I was saying as a critique people make, they could say, “why are we working with this association, they don’t do anything to help themselves. It’s us, it’s like they only exist to distribute what people come and give them….” You don’t have a response for that?
Group la: (Laughter)
aaaa it’s a criticism, but you gotta defend yourself. If you like ROPANIP, then you should have an explanation. Why should foreigners continue to support the associations. There are people who might say too that ROPANIP is paying you more for your produce, but that means that the school children get less food.
Group: Yes, yes
They say the program is supposed to help the farmers, but first in importance are the children.
Participant 3: Yes. But, eh, WFP doesn’t buy. They’re good, eh, WFP doesn’t….
Participant 2: Eee when I say this, if beans sell for 60 dollars in the market, it’s 60 dollars they buy for.
Participant 3: And 60 dollars they buy it too.
60 dollars?
Participant 2: Yes, they buy it.
Participant 2: If they sell 300 gourdes in the market, they buy it for 300 gourdes.
Participant 3: It’s at the market price they buy it.
Participant 2: But when we say they have a little more on the price, that little profit is for the people purchase it.
Ok
Participant 2: They put a little bit on it. A little bit more on it, so that he can get a little revenue, if it’s me whose gotta go all over the place and buy the stuff.
But you guys they give market price to?
Participant 2: Yes, they give us market price.
Participant 3: It’s at the market price they send you to buy.
Participant 2: They put a little thing extra for the people who are responsible for buying, who buy it.
That’s another issue.
Yes, that’s another issue.
Because people who buy it, they up the price.
Participant 2: An an
Because they need money.
Participant 3: It’s at market price they bought mine. WFP goes and checks all the prices.
ROPANIP needs money. They can’t work for free. BND needs money, they can’t work for free. You understand what I’m saying. Because they work with the association they are obliged to put more money out. Even if it’s not the associations that take it, even if it’s ROPANIP, even if it’s BND. And that makes the food more expensive.
Participant 3: Hum
And in another sense, you, do you have children in school? A school with a Cantine?
Participant 3: Well
Participant 2: I don’t have children
Participant 3: I don’t have children in a school that has a cantine.
Nephew? Niece?
Participant 3: No
Participant 3: Me, yes, I have children, I have children, I have children, whoa, I got children. And I have a school.
You have a school?
Participant 3: I have a school. But my school, ah, doesn’t, doesn’t doesn’t, it’s only me in in in all, eh, there are 11 schools, in, in, in
In the program?
Participant 3: The commune is divided into 2 parts. Each inspector has 2 and 4 sections. Each has 2 sections. One has the town plus the 1st and 2nd section. The other has the 3rd and 4th sections. But it’s my school that WFP, they did not take.
Participant 2: They don’t get anything.
Why not?
Participant 3: The reason, when I was in all the meetings with them, they said it was because a vehicle can’t get to my door. But when I came to look at the situation I see that it’s just not true, because I see a lot of schools that carry the food on foot or on pack animal to reach the school.
You could go get the food yourself?
Participant 3: I could myself go and get the food. I have pack animals. My kin have pack animals. And children, there are children… They are children in a country that’s become a ‘viktim.’ And, and, and for you to see that close to me they give, and WFP visited me. The first person WFP visited was me. Yes, they came from Port-au-Prince, when they came from Port-au-Prince they came to visit me, yes!
That isn’t a problem that…
Participant 3: Yes it’ a problem. Well, well, I have 150 children in my school.
Participant 2: Yes, no matter what.
Participant 3: 150 children and that, and all the other schools they get food and only mine is left out.
Do the parents complain?
Participant 3: Yes, they complain. But, because it there that the school is (it is close to their homes), they resign themselves. But other schools have food. They give them everything and us they don’t give. It’s a discrimination is what it is. This isn’t to say that they haven’t gotten to us, no. If they had a couple places they had not reached yet, that I could understand. But in my commune, I’m the only one who they did not take.
I would tell you this. I say if they didn’t give a school food and they gave other schools they would be hurting the school.
Participant 3: That’s it, that’s it (laugh). Hey Hey, they are destroying my school. When you don’t give and there are schools that, that have, that have a cantine inside already, they are reinforcing that school.
Participant 1: Milyores Boucher has a school too. I see that it’s a school that any vehicle can get to, anything can enter. I see they don’t give Milyores, despite the fact that she works in ROPANIP. I don’t know how it is they don’t give to that school, but many…
Participant 1: Abraham’s school.
Milyores school there..
Participant 1: Yes, Milyores school, I understand it’s a school that’s right by the street. I Don’t know the reason they don’t give to them.
Ok, but
No, Milyores told me that he had a problem with the requirements during the period.
Participant 1: An ok
Participant 2: That could be the problem, yes,
Because there is a minimum number of students that a school must have to get food.
Participant 1: The children were in need.
Give them the food.
But he didn’t have the minimum number of children.
Participant 1: An ok.
Here’s another problem they have with the program. They have a fixed amount of money. Now, that’s a reason that we asked the question if they lower the cost of food for the school, the cost of the cantine, they could give more children food, the program could be bigger.
Participant 1: Yes.
And one thing we always ask people, they want to give them food that they cook in the school. That means charcoal, or wood. That means spices. You need a cook. All that is a burden. One thing we could propose is if they would give another food. They could give a food like ChanmChanm (dried coconut and corn), Akamil (a porridge made up of beans and corn, rice and/or wheat), Akasan (milk and corn flour).
Tablet
Tablet, cassava bread, peanut butter
Participant 3: Yes, well, when, when, when WFP had not yet arrived, that’s the problem, it was a school that was already in existence, you understand me. What kept me from being destroyed is that I existed before many school that, that are there now.
Participant 1: Your school is around here?
Participant 2: & 3: No, it’s in the mountain.
Participant 2: Near Tomasique
Participant 3: It’s because I existed, I’m well organized. I worked hard, that’s why my school exists. Because if a school does not give food, you, you you don’t have SIGRO. You don’t have EPT. Your school can’t survive. So, I don’t know how (sighs)… because WFP visited me. They came to my very school when I had, well, when I had more than, close to 200 and how many students that year. I had 100, 100, 100, 100, 150, you understand anywhere near 165 enrolled students who are in need, they can’t come to school also….
It’s just like what you guys say about WFP speaking with you, they plan with you, but they do not take the produce from you.
Participant 3: Yes
But do you ever take the produce yourselves and go to Port-au-Prince to sell it.
Participant 3: Yes, we did, we did as we always do, as we are accustomed to do…
Participant 2: We sell on the local market.
Participant 3: We were accustomed to selling on the local market.
Participant 2: There are Madan Sara and Merchants too.
They come to buy in the market?
Participant 1: Yes, there are merchants that come to the garden and that come to buy in the market. They carry the produce on public transport to Port-au-Prince.
You, as an association, you don’t ever load up your produce and take it to sell in Port-au-Prince? You don’t ever do that?
Participant 2: No
Participant 1: No, we do not do that.
Participant 3: No (in a very low tone)
It’s the Sara who comes and gets the produce.
Group: Yes.
Participant 3: It’s, it’s, it’s (Pause, load noise of a truck) In the school, in the schools, you know, … there are times that the food… I hear that some parents complain that the food isn’t so good for the children. There are some foods the children are not accustomed to (laughs low)… They should use foods that are closer to the children, that come from the area the children live, food that the children are accustomed to. There are some foods the children are not accustomed to. When a child eats food he is not accustomed to, he doesn’t eat it, or it doesn’t sit right with him. Or it rise on him, it gives him pimple/sores. Or he just doesn’t want to eat it, you understand. Well, WFP, if a school in the area, if the area has corn, if it has millet, if it has plantain, yam, the children are accustomed to that food. Understand for example that yam, eh, Yellow Yam, there are some places where it’s bitter. When a child tastes that yam and he’s not accustomed to eating bitter yam, he won’t eat it.
Participant 1: There are some place too that manioc, children don’t eat it.
Participant 3: Yes, manioc makes children dizzy, they don’t eat it. But yams from his area, White Yam, Royal, Royal Yam he likes it. But Yellow Yam, you understand, when it’s not ripe, when they harvest it and it’s not quite ripe or they harvest it in the rainy season, it’s bitter, it’s got a bad taste. It’s bitter to the child who is not, who doesn’t eat it, or it doesn’t sit well with him, it makes him retch. He should be bigger. If a school in this area, well, if there is an association in the area, they should make a contract with them for them to give, give schools in the area local food. Buy food from them to give to the school.
Participant 1: WFP, it’s local food they give children.
Participant 3: So yes, if it’s local food, well then give them local produce, local has produce. When you look at what they say is local and you see the food is coming from somewhere else, and still the same, and still another problem. The school has a food to give children, they’re accustomed to this kind of plantain, they are accustomed to this type of yam, they’re accustomed to this type of millet, they’re accustomed to this type of corn.
Participant 2: Even pigeon peas, children are accustomed to fresh pigeon peas.
Participant 3: They’re accustomed to fresh pigeon peas, and the area has them ….
You’re talking like they look for food from somewhere else in Haiti?
In another area?
Participant 3: In another area.
That’s far away.
Participant 3: Where they buy food, you see the food coming to the school
You don’t agree?
Participant 3: Well, no, I don’t agree. But it could be done a little (laugh)
It would be better to buy right here?
Participant 3: It would be better to buy in the area.
Participant 2: To decentralize it.
Participant 3: Where, where, the food is…
Yes.
Participant 3: If I’m there, if I’m there, well, if I’m there for example, I’m there, the children are eating sugar cane, and we have our own sugar cane, but they bring a different sugar cane to give the children
It doesn’t make sense for you to go look for it in another place?
Participant 3: Well, well when you look to see these children that need sugar cane, for another cane to come and be off loaded to feed the children, and all the while we have sugar cane right here.
And it costs money to bring it.
Participant 3: And it cost a bunch for it to come all the while sugar cane would be fresher without, without having to go through all the abuse of transport, and the kids would be surer to get it.
For example, we talked about Yellow Yam, White Yam, who should decide which Yam to feed the children. Is it ROPANIP, or WFP, or BND, who decides?
Participant 3: They say Yam, but when they say Yam, the majority of Yams are excluded. Where they have a lot Yams isn’t included.
Participant 2: Yes, they say Yam like Royal Yam are not included.
Participant 3: They say that Yam isn’t included.
Who says that exactly? ROPANIP?
Participant 3: In the training, in in, like, well, well it’s WFP who tells ROPANIP. It’s not ROPANIP. WFP tells ROPANIP such and such it doesn’t want included. Because in the training they say, ‘here’s what we need’ and ‘here’s what we don’t need.’
But because you guys are ROPANIP. You said that you are ROPANIP, it’s you who know what the children can eat, it’s you who are the fathers of the children, you who are the mothers. I think with ROPANIP that you have enough resources for you to say, ‘children of Ti Rivie, this is what they eat, there is no with this Yam.’ I think you could make out better with ROPANIP, tell them, ‘’here is the problem with the Yam, in this area we produce this Yam. Around here, people eat this Yam since they are little children, they’re accustomed to it, they know it, and so they have a problem to eat Yams from other areas.’ Did you guys ever try saying all that?
Participant 3: Well.
As leaders in the associations that are inside of ROPANIP?
Participant 3: We discuss these things, we discussed this already, when we go to meeting, when there is something, but, in the center for example, where they have a center, when you get to Salanyak, there they have a Center where they go with all the food. All CBOs meet there. I don’t know here where the center is.
Participant 1: Ketan.
Participant 3: There is a center is Ketan where associations meet and stock food.
Participant 2: Where they stock food
Participant 3: Well, I went to discuss this with them the other day in Salanyak because I saw they were unloading plantains. Well, they told me that they don’t take plantains, and yet I see that they are taking plantains and weighing them. And where did they take those plantains. Salanyak doesn’t have plantains. They bought them in an area that has plantains. My area has plantains, and I told them, ‘how is it that you said you don’t take plantains, and now you are taking them. Well I see that things are a bit…
Participant 1: Things are lopsided.
Participant 3: You can’t really understand how they are, you know. If it is something that, even when they, when they were giving training. WFP, Deriso, Miragoane, everywhere, they did not take anything out, even breadfruit was included.
Participant 1: That’s right, they said that breadfruit could be used as a juice. They put in pigeon peas, they put in millet. But after you see they don’t buy millet, they don’t buy corn, they don’t buy breadfruit. They don’t buy pigeon peas, and there there many areas where that’s the beans they grow.
Participant 1: Especially where I live. That’s the crop I plant most.
Participant 3: You understand?
Participant 2: To sum it up, they only buy beans. They only buy black beans in the areas where they plant black beans?
Participant 1: Yes, they buy rice too. They buy Kawok rice.
Participant 3: They buy Kawok and Dimizan rice. They buy Kawok and Dimizan rice, you understand, wow.
If I understand children, children of Ti Rivie do not really eat what ….
They put in the program…
Farmers in Ti Rivie are, are producing
Participant 3: Well,
Participant 1: Yes, because yes …
Participant 3: Yes, but they do not …
Participant 1: The only thing was Kawok rice.
That means that it is rice that is from Ti Rivie?
Participant 3: Yes, only rice. For sure. After that we have another…
Where does the other produce from, do you know?
Participant 3: Other produce? They come from the mountains…
Participant 1: They come from high up in Setsan.
Participant 3: They come from, they come from Salanyak, Paillant …
Paillant?
Participant 3: That’s where they come from, you understand, eh, that’s where they come from. It’s that produce that they sell most. It’s those people who most have access to sell. Eh, they sell cabbage, carrot, chayote, eggplant, they sell vegetables …. (laughs)
Participant 1: Spinach
Participant 3: You understand they sell all of that. They sell Yam
Participant 1: Yes
Participant 3: Eh, e e, but Ti Rivye what’s it produce: millet, corn, pigeon peas…
Participant 1: Manioc
Participant 3: Manioc, Royal Yam, White Yam, eh, eh, eh, but that produce doesn’t sell.
They don’t buy it.?
Participant 3: They don’t buy it.
Is there another advantage, because the way you talk about the program, it doesn’t buy much from you guys. But is there another advantage they give you? For example, it creates another advantage, or is it just insignificant?
Participant 3: The advantage that WFP said would, they said that they would help us with agriculture, they were going to, they were going to help CBOs to better produce, to produce more. But we don’t see that. We don’t get any help from WFP.
You don’t get anything?
Participant 2: Yes, we don’t get anything.
Participant 3: We don’t get anything.
No tools, no seeds?
Participant 2: No, no, we don’t get any…
Participant 3: We didn’t get any seeds. We didn’t get anything to borrow. Nothing.
Participant 1: And we should get a tractor too.
Participant 3: I don’t know they won’t give it.
Participant 2: And we have a lot of water to irrigate. We have a lot of plain that we could irrigate.
You have water?
Participant 2: Yes, we have a lot of water.
Do you find help in other places?
Participant 3: Well, what I say, I didn’t say they don’t give, no. I don’t know.
Do you know about other organizations, whether it’s parents… You aren’t informed?
Participant 2: I don’t know if they give anything.
Participant 3: (laughs)…Yes, I wouldn’t say that they don’t give, no, but I don’t know that they…
Name, like, I know that you are an association.
Participant 3: I didn’t say they don’t give, no, yes, yes…
You should look for information too, so you can know If you’re getting left out of something. They said they would give, you should investigate and find out if someone else is getting help.
If you don’t get anything.
So you can know if they’re giving help somewhere else.
Participant 3: Yes, good point.
If you found out that they are giving somewhere else, then in the meetings you could ask about it and say that it’s you guys who make up ROPANIP.
Participant 3: Yes, it’s us who make up ROPANIP
Does ROPANIP have a role to play in deciding which association can sell food?
Participant 2: Yes, ROPANIP chooses. Yes, it’s ROPANIP that choose. I think it’s them that make the decision which association gets to sell food.
They select the associations that sell it?
Participant 2: Yes, they select them.
Participant 3: Well, it, it, it isn’t only, no, that is to say, it gives training for all the associations that it makes contracts with, all the associations that sell.
Participant 2: Well, that depends on the produce they take.
Participant 3: That depends now. Now that depends. What has come to pass might not be the fault of ROPANIP. WFP is the one who says what they need.
Participant 1: Yes, yes
Participant 3: It could be that it’s not ROPANIP. WFP. WFP, if WFP says, ‘here, this is what you take, here is what you won’t take, ROPANIP can’t say anything to WFP. WFP, it’s them who decide, because they have the monopoly on the money used to buy. If WFP says it doesn’t need such and such, ROPANIP can’t say anything. The association that has what WFP asks for, it’s them who will sell, who will make money.
Participant 2: That’s it.
Participant 3: Those who don’t have it, eh, eh…
Participant 1: They’re obliged to stay right where they’re at.
Participant 3: If WFP says it’s sugar cane I need, me, I have coconut, they won’t take coconut. I don’t get to sell to ROPANIP.
Participant 1: (laughs). That’s why I’m not in with the program.
Participant 3: (laughter)
Participant 1: Because what they buy I don’t have.
Participant 3: Well then, now it’s a weakness that comes, that comes and dumps a problem, It comes and dumps a problem on you….There are some CBOs that should look for another partner, another person because things are going in a certain way. In the first contract they underline very specifically that WFP would buy from us.
Participant 2: They came with a list of produce that they were going to need.
Participant 3: Yes, very specifically they said it to all of us.
They don’t buy?
Participant 3: Such and such an area what you produce, such and such an area what you produce, all contrary to the quantity of millet they said…
Participant 2: They conducted an investigation/survey
Participant 3: They asked, ‘will we find it?’, they came and said, well, if we don’t find it, they would help us to plant millet, that they would loan us money so that we could plant corn, more millet. Help us, you understand, to plant more vegetables. But we don’t see this. They have it in the mountains. There are places we don’t’ see this. We didn’t say it doesn’t exist. We don’t see it.
Participant 2: It doesn’t happen.
Participant 3: We did not say that it doesn’t exist. But there are some places it does not arrive. You understand. We don’t receive seeds. We don’t get any help. Let’s, we, well, we find advice. But we don’t find real assistance. We find advice from WFP, yes, (laughter).
They never landed where you are. (laughter)
It didn’t arrive (laughter)
Participant 3: It didn’t get to us (laughter), you understand
We always see this. In the big organizations. They have money and they come and open a program and they spend a lot of money on administration, on vehicles and in the end almost nothing happens in the countryside.
Participant 3: Yes, yes, it’s always like that, yes.
Now, if they were to change the system and they spend more of the money in the countryside. For example, now it isn’t them who purchases. They only give money. Is there a group of other organizations that is not ROPANIP, but like a group of women, or a person who has a business that make food for the school?
Participant 3: Yes, this, this came to create a problem too. For example, when you hear ‘cantines’, there are some place it’s wood that they burn to make food. And the way we are deforesting. There are people obliged to cut branches off living trees and then wait for them to dry on the ground so that they can use them to cook food or charcoal. I see this as a problem. All these schools need wood for them to make food. That’s a problem that, that is going to create other problems with the environment. I would think that WFP would have another strategy to ameliorate that system of making food. For example, when a big plume of smoke spreads out in the school yard, it covers the entire place, it covers the school completely. This pile of wood burning. Can’t WFP come up with another system to ameliorate that so that the food could be cooked better. There are some places that don’t have trees to burn anymore, no. To burn a pile of wood every day. Where are they going to find it? Little bit of food you cook in the school. How many, school days in a year? 200. And how many days a school has to find wood to burn. And it’s not just one school, no. It’s all the schools! This is going to cause a degradation of the environment. WFP needs another strategy that would permit the food…. There are many solar stoves. There are solar stoves. There are, there are things that can ameliorate this. Understand. And sometimes it’s raining. The women can’t make food. I’ve visited cantines. I go and look. And yes, you will see that the rain falls and the wood gets wet. You can’t make food. Problem! Maybe when it’s dry they can find wood to use, but there are times when the rains fall and you can’t start a fire the wood won’t burn. WFP should put another strategy in place. Understand. The women have a big problem too to cook the food. They tell the parents to come cook the food. Well, these are people who have a home… Monday they have to cook for their family, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. For her to come to the school and not get paid anything. She doesn’t get a penny!
Participant 1: That’s a problem. There are women who have trades to attend to.
Participant 3: For her to leave the marketing she’s doing to survive, leave all that and spend the data making food for all those children. And the director sitting on his butt in the school. The woman herself, if she comes to make food at the school and she’s got 5 other children sitting at the house, all 5 of them not in school. And she can’t even come back home with a little bit of the food to give the children at home. That’s too hard. Hum. I told them this already. I already told them that’s too hard, you understand, (laughs). But they haven’t resolved this.
Ok, so what strategy do you propose?
Participant 3: Well, well it’s either that these people at the school can cook the food or they need to give the women a little something, even if it’s not a lot.
Participant 2: They have to get a little something.
Participant 3: They should get a little something, so they can wash their cloths that get dirty. And the rest of their family, husband, children, those they left out. The person, she passes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday, she’s cooking food for the school, and she has a bunch of children suffering back home. She can’t come back with a bucket of food to give them at the house. It’s her who, as the woman, who must manage so that the household eats cooked food. Well, she can’t bring anything back from the school because…
Participant 1: Is there a rule that was passed like that?
Participant 3: Yes, there is a rule that they do not give you the right to leave with anything. Nothing. And and,
Really?
Participant 1: Well, WFP’s project is a project that’s stingy. (laughs)
So, ok, if a person makes food, I she has children at the house, she can’t leave the school with any food?
Participant 3: No, and if the children don’t pay, look, each child has, has 1 [Haitian] dollar to bring every day. But here’s another problem. Every day for the child to bring 5 gourdes. Ok, there are some places that it’s 1 gourde. There are some places where it’s 50 dollars exact they pay per child for everything. Well, if a parent, if a parent has 4 children in school, the person is dirt poor, and when a child is eating, if she has 2 children, she gives 1 dollar, she doesn’t have it for the other child, one eats and can’t give the other one a crumb.
Participant 1: The child can’t give the other one anything?
Participant 3: No.
Participant 1: They won’t feed her if she doesn’t bring any money.
No. They won’t give the child who doesn’t pay.
Participant 1: Or if the food is in in my hand I can’t …
Participant 3: Sheeeee can’t eat any of it!
Hummm
Participant 3: The other won’t eat. Children who can’t pay must go outside when the others are eating.
[sucks teeth in disapproval]
Participant 1: She can’t eat with her brother?
Participant 3: She isn’t going to eat.
Participant 2: That’s hard.
Participant 3: Children who eat are in a room where they eat. Children who can’t pay that day, they’re outside. Even if it’s your little sister you can’t give her crumb. Even if it’s your little brother, you can’t give him a crumb.
Hum
Participant 1: Oh, I don’t understand this.
Participant 3: I’ve seen it [in French]. You understand. Ah, me, myself, what can I do? If I have a cantine and it’s in this state of inhumanity, I don’t need it because I can’t do that. Because I can’t see the same father of two children, someone who is miserably poor, who has 3 or 4 children in school, he can’t find 4 dollars or 20 gourdes to send to school with them, he sends 10, or he sends 30, for me to see some of the children eat and others not eat? No, I don’t need that.
Participant 1: That’s not a good rule.
Participant 3: Neither would I need it either.
Is it the school administration that does that or WFP who tells them to do it like that?
Participant 3: Well, that’s the way the thing works.
No, we should understand if it’s the school administration that makes such a decision? I don’t believe that WFP would. Because WFP, WFP…
Participant 3: WFP isn’t on the ground.
It sends food for all the children …
No, because WFP doesn’t know. WFP doesn’t say tell the schools that children should give 5 gourdes, or that you should give 10 gourdes? It’s the school administration that plans that, right?
Participant 1: Ok
Participant 2: I would think so because it seems like the type of decision that the school administration could make.
Ah, yes, I would think so. WFP gives food for 300 children at a school, for the children to eat… I don’t think that WFP is going to tell the director that those who don’t pay don’t eat. No, that’s the school that can do that.
Participant 3: But, but, listen, WFP, WFP, since you begin at 1 you have to keep going all the way to 10. And if you don’t that’s going to cause a problem. It’s a responsibility that WFP took on, they should know. You don’t feed raw food. It’s in the school that it’s cooked. WFP should deal with all that, know that people are cooking food, how they cook it, understand. And those who cook it, they should come and find them, because everywhere people are cooking food, wow, the cook is taking on the heat of the fire, all that heat, that massive cooking pot, the person, they, they should get something, they should get something.
Eh, if they would just buy the food from someone else who specializes in that. For example, instead of giving the food to be cooked at the school, what if they just bought 200 ripe bananas, some cassava bread and peanut butter and brought it in for the kids to eat.
Participant 3: Well, that wouldn’t be enough all the time.
But one day they could give cassava, they next day they could give something else. chanmcham, akamil, akasan,
Participant 2: Yes, yes
Participant 3: Yes, one day you could do that, for sure that could be done, that could be done, that could be done, because one doesn’t have to stuff themselves all the time.…. They should learn that too.
No, it’s not like the children live in the school. Parents give a little food when they leave the house. And when they go home they find food.
Participant 3: Yes
Participant 2: Sometimes children leave their house in the morning and they don’t get anything before they go. It depends on the capacity of the parent.
You know, people are always saying that and for me, OK, personally it’s not my decision, but if there is a child who doesn’t get fed at home, that’s a serious case. That’s another issue. That’s a problem. And it shouldn’t be the responsibility of the school to save the child. That’s a case that needs another strategy.
Participant 3: Yes.
Participant 2: Yes, I think that there is another means but what I was saying to you is that there are children whose parents send them to school at 5 am and they don’t have time to get anything. They don’t have time to give them anything to eat.
Yeah, that’s true.
Participant 2: But it’s not all of them.
I see your point, but what I’m saying is that you cannot base the entire program on those children. The point I want to make with WFP is that you base the program on the best logic that can feed the most children, at the best price, and the least complexity because the more complex the program the easier it’s going to crash.
Participant 2: It costs more.
As you said, sometimes they give food. But other times, things get wet, and there are a series of other problems.
Participant 3: Yes, yes, there are times when the food can’t be cooked.
It’s expensive, yes. They pay three times the cost of the food itself. That means that if they give each child 15 gourdes of food, they pay 45 gourdes for each child. But it’s only 15 gourdes worth of food.
15 gourdes of real food. Now, the idea is that we consider the cost. We consider the expenses. Where the food comes from, that’s a cost. Other people who are responsible for buying the food, that’s a cost. Now if we take all that and put it together, isn’t there another way we could use the same 100 gourdes so that the children could get more food.
You know, when you add the wood, and you add the spices…
Participant 3: All that cost money [laughs]
You’re now at 60 gourdes
Group la: [laughter]
They’re all costs.
And the cook. We’re talking about 60 gourdes for every child every day.
When you go and add the contribution from the parents, that’s another addition to the program.
Participant 2: I see what WFP would like to do, yes. They should have a ‘ma’. People same as those who have restaurants. But its local food you’re recommending to give children. You would give a plate that would cost less money than all those expenses. You could make a contract with the person. You would say, darling, I have 50 children, I want you to give every child food for 10 dollars for me. 50 gourdes per person. The woman, she manages to give each child food for 50 gourdes. Now, she knows that she has a contract with you…. If it’s every month that you give her so much money, and she makes food for the children, but you tell her, ‘here, this is the food you give the children.’ That would be even better still.
Participant 3: But, but, a little while ago a, eh, we were speaking, for example, when WFP came to help us with local production, each production has its area and its season. There are crops that can’t be grown in some areas. If they were really going to help us, for example, if it’s peanuts that we grow, peanuts are nutritious.
Participant 1: Yes.
Participant 3: But there you are, if they bought peanuts and made peanut butter there would be times that the children could just eat peanut butter and bread.
Participant 1: A buttered bread, yes.
Participant 3: Eh, that, that, that, well, it’s something that children like and sustains them.
Participant 2: They could also give them a cup of juice with bread.
Participant 3: A little cup of juice with bread buttered with peanut butter. Easley that wouldn’t cost a bunch of people cooking food.
Participant 2: Today you could have cassava one day with a cup of juice because he ate something at home no matter what. You give him something to keep his mind awake while he’s at school
Participant 3: Yes, a child needs something to take and put in his mouth.
Participant 1: A child can also take a banana, he can eat a banana
Participant 3: He can eat a banana, eh, he can eat grilled peanuts (the two are a common morning food). Understand.
Peanut-sugar clusters
Participant 3: That’s right, peanut brittle and the child can wash it down with water and he’s good to go. It’s not a meal. But we have a lot of peanuts to sell. WFP must buy the peanuts from us, understand, to give to the children. Because it’s not a big sale. Just to keep the children nourished. You eat a little and it helps you too, understand, it helps you.
Participant 2: What the school director says there is true. Chanmchanm is what? Chanmchanm is corn meal
Participant 3: Peanuts ….
Participant 2: With peanuts, a mixture of corn with peanuts. All those products we sell. Now you make a mixture of chanmchanm and the children can take a couple of spoonful and wash it down with water.
Participant 3: Yes, yes, he can drink water and he’s satisfied, understand.
Participant 2: He drinks, he’s satisfied, he’s happy and he can study. And like you said, it’s not only cooked food, meal of rice, plantains; that’s not the only food that can satisfy children. You can give him something simple. He eats it and he’s satisfied.
Participant 3: You see the food at the school cantine? It’s a great thing when a child eats a little food. But it creates a lot of problems. I always see that. And why? Sometimes the time they give to eat isn’t enough time for the children to finish eating. The food is hot (laughter from the group) … The food isn’t ready on time. He doesn’t have time to finish eating.
And they ring the bell.
Participant 3: And they ring the bell (laughs)
Participant 3: The child, his hands are dirty, he’s got to wash his mouth. All that takes time from learning (says it in French). If every day that happens, that’s a big problem because the food is not prepared. They don’t have enough cooks and helpers. Because, especially, wood is burning and it’s not good wood or it’s wet. The wood can’t cook the food in time. Heyyyy! (group laughs).
Participant 2: And secondly, the help is voluntary,
Participant 3: The volunteer thing is really something extraordinary.
Participant 2: You can’t say that at such and such a time things are going to be ready.
Participant 3: But it needs to be done on time. Understand.
Participant 1: And in hurrying to cook the food you can give the children food that makes them ill.
Participant 3: The children so hungry they swallow the food whole, understand.
Participant 1: It’s not well prepared, and if the child eats it…
They can’t swallow it whole
hum hum, not without having a problem.
Participant 3: No, food is something that has to be served up in the right way (it has place, time, and method to eat). Me, I know that when my children were little, they were in two schools that had a cantine. They said that foreigners sponsored the cantines. Well, my children were not interested in eating. The director called me to make me come whip them because they wouldn’t eat. Why wouldn’t they eat? First of all, they were goofing off. The food wasn’t ready on time, and the food isn’t served in a way that they’re accustomed to eating. Understand, there were places it was “ble” (cracked wheat) that they cooked. Ble alone and smelling like smoke. Man o man, understand, the kids are not accustomed to that. People just dump a big ole pot of ble, throw some fire under it. Man, there wasn’t even anywhere for them to eat. The children never ate like that at home (laughs)
Participant 1: It’s not easy, no. (laughs)
Participant 3: The school director who made me come, he said, ‘oh, I’m teaching the children to be disrespectful. I’ve got to correct them.’ But I said, ‘director, ah, do you see that food (laughs)… All the children aren’t coming from the same background (needs). For a child to leave his house where they have more food than he can eat. They eat eggs, they eat bananas, they eat cassava, they eat whatever. They eat like they’re in the US. They leave food on the table. You understand. They’re not going to eat that (ble). It tastes like smoke. A bunch of smoke got into it. No one needs to beat the children. Leave them alone. You’re wasting my time here making me come to school because the kids won’t eat. I understand you’re the director of the school, the food should be a good thing, and I’ll keep paying the money you ask me. But give the food to other kids who want to eat it. Mine can’t eat it. And they won’t eat it, no.’ Wow, all these things (the problems with cantines) created a problem for the educational system. They’ve got to make the system better. WFP should change the food sometimes. Teach the kids to eat something that’s lighter. They should make the whole thing easier. And the cooks and volunteers should understand why they’re burning their hands, you understand. They should do the cantines with (laughs)… you know Haitians, as soon as you pay them something, as soon as they have a little money in their hands….
Participant 1: They’ll take greater care.
Participant 3: There is a great deal of money that is being spent at the upper echelons. Make some of the money arrive where people are actually working, where they are really working. My school has no cantine. But I went to visit the women who were cooking food in another school. My friend, I saw those women. They really stepped in shit. They’re scrounging coconut tree wood, coconut bark and putting it on the fire…. You understand. Wow. I need a cantine in my school too (laughs). Despite everything we’re saying I need one too because it’s a means of …
I already told you, I agree, and I’ll and I will tell you this, I was with the directors and I said something similar. I said if you have someone with a school and you don’t give them a cantine, but all the other schools have one, you’re breaking that school.
Participant 3: Yes, you’re destroying it.
And they said, yes, that’s right. And that someone had complained.
Participant 3: Yes, they are destroying the school, exactly.
They said, there is a school that complained about is… Seems that you already called them? Did you complain?
Participant 3: Yes
They told me that. And they understand the logic.
Yes, and what’s more, you are a CBO that’s a partner, that works within the program.
Participant 3: That works in the program. Well, me, I have a school, you understand, and when WFP came out here, the first person in the county they came to visit was me. They came from Port-au-Prince in a big vehicle. They were real nice the whole time they were with me. They came to see the school, everything. And when they came back, I don’t know what happened, it’s me they took out of the program.
(The entire group laughs).
Participant 2: A little while ago you (Pharrel) said something that could be the reason. There is minimum number of children that must be in the school for them to take you.
Participant 3: No. Oh! No. If I have 200 children, WFP shouldn’t give me food for 200 children?
No, there are schools on the list that have 25 students.
Participant 3: Oh, oh
We would like to ask…
Participant 3: Right now I have 165 children in my school …
It should not be like this because another thing they could do, the little schools could put themselves together….
Participant 3: They bring food very close to where I am, yes. Very close they’re giving people food. They bring them food and mine remains like it is.
Participant 2: All your students see it
Participant 1: You have the same problem as Milyores
Participant 3: And, and I am in the association. WFP, I’m the one who’s working all over the place. Eh, I’m all over the place for the WFP program. Everything, all of Salagnac. Suns going down, I am there, I’m in a WFP meeting. And it’s me WFP didn’t take! (laughs).
Ok, well, what do you get out it? You said they don’t buy from you.
Participant 3: They don’t buy from me.
Your school isn’t in the program.
Participant 3: My school isn’t in the program.
So, what do you get out of it all?
Participant 3: I don’t get anything. They don’t help me.
Then why do you continue?
Participant 3: Me, I’m always, oh! Every single WFP, well, well, I’m a trainer. My team is a training team.
Participant 2: He doesn’t get anything, but other people close to him are getting something. He feels that he can’t abandon them….
Participant 3: Oh, you understand, yes, we can’t abandon it…
Participant 2: The program, even if he himself doesn’t get anything, others get something out of it because they’re in the county and he can’t just abandon them. He can’t commit that kind of negligence. He hangs in there, perseveres.
Participant 3: You can ask them for me. Everywhere they train I’m there with my team. Any place. I go to Dezen. Paillant. Miragoane, Salagnac, Perrier.
They pay you, they give you money for that?
Participant 3: No, never, WFP, never.
They give you something for expenses?
Participant 3: WFP never gave me anything for expenses. Me!
They don’t give you anything for expenses?
Participant 3: No, WFP has not yet given me 5 gourdes, no. Money for my moto. Understand. I usually take my moto, leave my house in Seligue, circulate all over the countryside. To get the moto taxi to wait for me, I pay 150 HT dollars. All the way until the meeting is done, I’ve paid, I’ve given the guy 1,000 gourdes because he spends most the day and I can’t go back alone. (laughs)
And SIGO, the State program that is supposed to pay the schools
Participant 3: Well, they still…
They give you something?
Participant 3: SIGO doesn’t do anything. SIGO, well, people who are in the program, they don’t do anything for them. They don’t pay them.
They don’t do anything?
Your school isn’t in the SIGO program?
Participant 3: I’m not in SIGO, no.
They used to give?
Participant 3: They filled out everything I gave them, they never did …
You aren’t in EPT too?
Participant 3: I am not in the EPT. I would have been in the EPT, but they made, the guy made…One day when I wasn’t there the director came from Miragoane, they sent a letter for me. And the inspector Ti Rivye had just been replaced. And the guy who was there said that my school no longer existed….. I do not have EPT. I don’t have anything. I’m getting by like this. If I got something…. It’s hard….I’m teaching school since 1976.
What?
Participant 3: 76, yes, I’m teaching. I got kids that I took who are now big doctors, nurses, lawyers. Those children would never have known how to read, no. I don’t need to know them. If I see a children that can’t go to school, I go to his house and take him (to my school).
How do they pay the year?
Participant 3: This year I charged 500 gourdes for the whole year.
For 1 year?
Participant 3: This year is 50 Haitian dollars. But the teachers gave me so much pressure.
But how do you manage to pay the professors with that?
Participant 3: Well, brother, we don’t have any money, they don’t pay… When I say they have to pay 100 dollars (Haitian dollars), they don’t pay, they don’t give it.
Yes, we know that if you had 150 it’s just a little bit…
Participant 3: They, they won’t pay it.
Some of them can pay it.
Participant 3: Well, first of all, it’s the children in the school, the children I took. I taught them to read. I’ve sent them to other schools. They come back to me, they come help me. And guys who are not interested in money and who work right. You understand. I have a boy who finished Teachers College. And after he finished he came back and taught with us, in the midst of the poor. You have a boy who finished his studies, finished Teacher’s College and he comes back to the countryside to teach.
He must be a guy who has gardens, a farmer?
Participant 3: No, a young man now who farms? Me, an old man like me farms. No, these young men, long finger nails, cool guys (laughs). Finished University and came to teach. He manages. People in the community agree (help him with food) because they don’t want the community to stay like it is. Understand. Because if the community was completely backwards, in the dark. But thanks to God that made me take this community out of the darkness, understand, that’s my plan…. I sacrificed myself, I didn’t leave. I didn’t do anything. Just stayed right here until the present so that I can take care of the children, to make them become something, understand. But the State never helped me at all.
[Taking names and contact information]
Participant 1: As I said to you, we have a lot of water and we have dry land. We don’t have assistance that would help us irrigate the land so that it could yield all the time, and every year. Like corn in March, the water would allow us to harvest in August too. And If you understand millet, we can plant in August and harvest in February. Do you understand? That way, if we could get the land, improve it, irrigate it, we’d harvest more often. And it would be good. Especially now that the country is completely wiped out (reference to the hurricane). Without even being able to find credit for women in the associations. And even for us men, it would be good too, because we need to find something to create a movement to help the population.
Participant 3: What’s more, WFP should take more care give food that’s appropriate for children, because the parents have become more needy after the hurricane. Every little chicken they had, every little goat. à
Participant 1: I got cows that died.
Participant 3: All died. There is nothing. Not a pig, nothing. Everyone is empty…. WFP should make a little more effort to get to where the people are in need.
I don’t know what’s going to happen. Everyone knows that you took a big big big hit out here. But I don’t know what’s going to happen. In the US, now we are going to have a different president. And this one isn’t sympathetic at all. We have Europe still. I just don’t know. And a lot of the aid for WFP comes from the US, from USAID. But this program is supported by Brazil….
Participant 3: And WFP, me, WFP isolated me. I can work with WFP. .. But they don’t do anything for me. They should help my school… How is it that they take 10 of the 11 schools and they left just one out. When I ask myself that question….
But they know. I told you that….
Participant 3: Yes, yes (laughs). But apart from that, you don’t have any other ideas in your head to show us what we should do?
What you’ve said here, you’ve talked a lot and said a lot of important things that we needed to hear because we don’t like to use our own words. But you’ve confirmed what we suspected. Now what I need is your words so that I can take them and give them to the people in WFP, and the Ministry too. You have said many things that can make the program function better. For me the idea would be to cut the hot meals or make them somewhere else, have a specialist prepare them and take them to the school. A teacher or a school director who isn’t a cook. He doesn’t manage a restaurant. His job is to educate. Now you give the director the responsibility to oversee food, to check and see if it’s good, to complain if it isn’t. Now the director will have a great deal of interest. He knows it’s for his school children, now he’Il look out better, and if the woman or person who is making food, if they don’t do it right, now you can go and give someone else the contract (to make food).
Participant 2: Yes, you cut the contract. You give it to someone else.
Participant 3: Yes
The thing about wood, all that you said well. It just doesn’t make sense. You look for wood… It doesn’t make sense at all.
(group laughter)
Smoke
Participant 3: It doesn’t make sense (laughs), understand.
And you have eggs, you have peanuts, you have chanmchanm.
You have coconut clusters.
Participant 2: Bananas
Cassava
Participant 2: Cassava
Participant 3: A lot of things.
Banana with egg and peanuts, there Is nothing better for you.
Participant 1: Yes, yes, yes
Participant 3: Banana with egg and peanuts is the best thing for you, I understand. My children, when they go to school it’s peanut butter…
Participant 2: You have cassava and peanut butter.
A banana.
Participant 2: A cup of juice.
Well, juice….
Orange, Passion Fruit, Lime
Participant 3: My wife never gets up and makes food in the morning.
Tim, We, we were are at school today and the director said that for juice such as lime, orange, grapefruit, he said that he doesn’t need to pay if he could just get some sugar because the parents would bring these things for free.
[pause]
The program needs to become local, really local. You guys have already said as much.
Group Yes
Buy local.
Participant 3: Yes, that would be good for the children.
We were surprised in our first meeting that the program has been described as local. We were in Paillant where they buy the food. But when we asked about where the school cantines were they said, Petite Rivie.
Participant 3: The food that comes it’s still something not truly local, you understand, it’s always imported.
Yes, it’s always imported. And there’s something else, when it’s local it’s from your own people.
Participant 3: Yes
People in your neighborhood, children in the school know you.
Participant 3: They know you, they know you.
They know you and you know the people who are providing the food.
No 1,3: Yes, yes
Now, if they fool you (with produce that is no good), or fool the children, people can put pressure on them.
Participants 1 & 3: Yes, yes, yes
But if it’s producers in Paillant, you can’t do anything if they send a bad Yam?
Participant 3: You can’t do anything, no, understand.
You can’t do anything, you can’t go over to Paillant and start cursing people (laughs)…. You can’t….
Participant 3: Eh, eh, curse people you don’t even know where they come from.
You don’t even know where they’re from (laughs). They’ve tricked you…. They’ve pulled one over on you and for them, children here? What’s important to them is their own children.
Participant 1: Yes
Participant 3: There are beans you don’t know the how they’re grown. There are beans that you put in hot water, there are beans you have to put in cold water. It just depends on the soil their grown in. But you don’t know if you should use cold water or hot water. The beans never cook.
Participant 1: They’re never cooked. They’ll just sit there looking at you.
Participant 3: They never begin to transform into something you can eat. And it was local food, the people would know how to cook it.
You know beans like that?
Participant 3: He knows beans from the area. Those beans you put in hot water. People who are from the area will tell you right away, ‘here’s how you cook these beans. Make the water boil, put the beans in and you’ll see when they’re cooked.’ But if you put them directly in cold water, they can spend the entire day on the fire, since the morning, and they’ll never be cooked. There are soils like that. O boy, when you get something like that, what do you do, the food is never cooked.
Yes, well, we will take all this information, put it in a report and it’s possible we will call you again in March or April. We’ll come back and do the same thing again.
Participant 1: Yes.
Participant 3: OK, agreed, we’re happy that you came.
Participant 2: We’re available anytime you guys call. As long as God lets us live, we’re here to give you information.
Ok. Thanks.
Participant 2: ok
Ok, we say thank you.
Participant 2: Thank you..
Participant 1: Thank you too.
Participant 3: Ok
*********
Focus Group #9: All Male, Farmers (Salagnac 1)
9/11/2016
Interviewers
- Natacha: 28 years of age, no children, focus group leader and surveyor.
- Tim: 53 years of age, anthropologist.
Participants
- Jacky: Farmer, 0 children.
- Kalaf: Pastor 5, Farmer, 5 children
- Edi: Farmer, 1 child
- Lejye: Farmer, 2 children (3 died)
- Dezomis: Farmer, 2 children
Introduction: The answers you will give will be given in a report. We will not put your name on the report. That means you are free to speak your mind. What is the name of this community?
Public: This community is called Salagnac.
The report will go like this: I was in the community of Salagnac and here is what the people in the community said about the subject. I might say something like this: They think this is good and that is bad. Do you understand?
Public: Yes!
Is this community the first communal section of Miragoâne or the section communal section?
Public: It is the sixth communal section of the commune of Miragoâne.
My name is Tim.
Public: Tim? Ok.
This here is Natacha.
Unidentified male participant: Is the name Tim in English?
Yes, it is English. You also have the name Tim in Creole. For example: Tim, Tim? Bwa sech![3]
Unidentified male participant: What! Do you know how to tell riddles[4] during the nighttime?
Public: Laughter
Unidentified male participant: I have a cousin whose name is Natacha. She left the country recently.
She left for the states?
Unidentified male participant: Yes.
I want to open this so you can see how it is done.
Children are playing in the background.
How many times have sold your product to ROPANIP? What kind of product did you sell to them?
Jacky: Hummmm. I sold yam. We called that type of yam, yam riyal. It is a white colored yam.
ROPANIP always buys from you?
Public: Yes, all the time.
Do you mean every week?
Public: Yes.
Do you sell the yams per sack?
Public: It doesn’t have to be per sack all the time. You sell them what you have available. For instance, it can be a pile of yams, a sack of yam, a half sack, of a one third of a sack. You sell them what you have at the time they need.
If ROPANIP does buy your yams where do you sell them? Do you sell them at the local market?
Lejye: No, they are always buying from us.
What if they don’t buy from you? What will you do with the product?
Public: We will sell it at the local market.
Ok. In general who is selling the products to ROPANIP? Are your wives doing the selling?
Public: The wife sells and the husband also sells. Everyone sells.
Jackly: We sell because we need the money to buy fertilizer. We don’t receive aid for production. Do you understand?
OK.
Lejye: You know how women are. Sometimes they won’t give us all the money from the sales. So in order to be able to buy fertilizer we ourselves will sell the products. We have to buy fertilizer to increase the production in order for us to have money to function.
Ok.
Lejye: After selling the products ourselves we then give money to our women. The wives also have a portion of the production to sell. If the portion they have is too small we would add more to it. Do you understand?
Yes.
Lejye: We help the women that way.
What about selling at the local markets? Do the men also sell at the local market?
Public: Yes! Everyone sells at the local market.
Do you sell at the local market?
Male participants: Yes!
Jacky: Sometimes my wife will be selling on one side of the market and I am selling on the opposite side.
Lejye: We are selling different products.
Public: Laughter
You do not sell the same product?
Public: No!
What products are men most likely to sell?
Public: We sell all type of products.
Kalaf: We sell beans, sweet potatoes, cabbage, yucca, yam, breadfruit, pumpkin, carrot, banana, and spices. We sell all type of products.
Jacky: We do that in order to protect our women. She can be on one side of the market and you can be on the opposite side.
Lejye: I don’t need to know how much money she makes on her portion and she doesn’t need to know how much I make with my portion.
Lejye: It is not a lot of money but as a man you need to know how to manage money.
Where I lived when I first came to Haiti women are the only person in the household responsible for selling products. That means the men work in the production and women sell the goods at the local market.
Public: Yes.
Do you do that sometimes?
Jacky: Yes, the reason is for instance you go to the local market with two sacks of yams, two sacks of sweet potatoes, and two sacks of carrots. You don’t know what kind of people you will meet at local market. She might be selling on this corner and someone might try to steal the money and the products from her. In order to avoid something like that from happening I have to accompany her to the local market. In that case I might sell the yams and she will sell the remaining products. We do it like that to avoid something bad from happening. Do you understand?
Do you sell your product to ROPANIP at the same price you would sell at the local market?
Public: Yes, the same price.
You sell to both at the same price?
Kalaf: The price for the product is well known to all.
Do you think you would have made more money if you sell at the local market?
Public: No. The price ROPANIP pays is the same price as the local market.
Lejye: I rather sell my product to ROPANIP because it is an association. I would rather sell to them even at a lower price because the association will help the community.
Does ROPANIP really help the community?
Public: Not yet. They have not helped us yet.
How were they supposed to help you?
Lejye: Well, I don’t have any idea on that matter.
Kalaf: We are doing everything on our own. No one helps me with my work. I buy my own seeds for planting cabbage.
Do they every give out seeds or tools for farming?
Public: Nothing, they have not given seeds or tools for farming. Even if they were giving out farming tools we would not get them.
Lejye: Gran manjè[5] would have brought them and then sell them to us at a very high price.
Public: They would take them and then sell them to us.
Lejye: We buy the farming tools very expensive from them.
Jacky: It might happen that the state actually sends farming tools for us but it will be divided with many different parties. There are the senator, the deputy, the mayor, and the CASEC. It will have to be divided between them all. We poor farmers will not get it. It should have been us who receive the aid because we are the ones who really need it but unfortunately we will not receive it.
Do you buy fertilizers from ROPANIP?
Public: No. I don’t think so. We are not aware of ROPANIP selling fertilizers. The announcement has not been made yet. Maybe they don’t want us to know about it.
Has ROPANIP have been functioning for a long time in the community? How many years?
Lejye: Well, maybe around one year and a half. Has it been around for two years yet?
Public: It has been around for more that. It has been around for a long time.
Lejye: I myself have not known about it for two years yet.
Public: ROPANIP has grown and it is well known in the community. Now they are buying from the community but in the past they were not.
Ok. What were they doing in the past for the community? Where they involved in the community?
Public: No! They didn’t do anything for the community. What! Us? No! JJJ.
Lejye: Whatever you sell them they will weigh it to see how much it is. It could be oranges, grapefruit or bananas. They will buy from us. Do you understand?
Public: If you are not part of the association they will not buy from you. No, they will not buy form you.
Lejye: If you are not a member you need a member to sell for you.
Public: They won’t acknowledge you as client. Someone with a membership would need to sell your product for you to them. They do all the deals between themselves.
Are you a member?
Jacky: No, I am not a member.
Do you have a friend who is a member?
Jacky: Yes, I have a friend who is a member.
Does that friend sell for you?
Jacky: Yes, when I need to sell he sells for me.
Does that friend make money from you for selling for you?
Jacky: No, he does not make money from me because the products are sold at the same price as the local market. I know at what price it will be sold. JJJ
Public: You needed only to know the price at the local market.
Is he just doing you a favor?
Jackly: Sometimes he might make some extra money from your merchandise. Here is how it would happen. Each group has a leader. For example, if I have beans to sell I would go to the leader of my group and he will buy the beans from me. Let’s say he paid me ten gourdes for my beans then he will sell those beans directly to ROPANIP for maybe twelve gourdes. That is how he might make some extra money. Do you understand?
Public: This deal is between him.
Groups and associations are the same thing?
Public: Yes, it’s the same thing.
Can a group have at least 100 members?
Public: Yes.
Is ROPANIP buying from all groups?
Public: Yes.
Where I was living in the Northwest, groups were called children.
Public: Where in the Northwest?
Jean Rabel
Public: Oh, Jean Rabel?
Yes.
A group over there consisted of four or five people. After you have large groups but they had a different name.
Public: Jean Rabel is a place where there is a lot of hunger. Humm!
Let’s imagine that you have a sack of cabbage. Do you take it directly to the group or they buy it from you at the local market?
Public: No, they ask us for it.
Is there a place that if you need to sell your products that you can take it?
Kalaf: They would need to ask for product needed first and then we will take it to them. People who are in groups buy from those who are not in groups. Group members will then sell to the group leader who will sell to ROPANIP. Do you understand?
Yes.
Kalaf: That means us who are not members sell to members.
The members will sell ROPANIP?
Public: Yes!
Kalaf: We cannot sell to ROPANIP because we are not members of a group. If they make extra money from us we don’t need to know because we are not members.
As long as you sell your products at the market price that is enough for you?
Public: Yes.
I have another question to ask. How do you plant cabbage?
Public: We plant the seeds.
Lejye: We first plow the land then plant the seeds. After planting we cover the ground and in three days we would uncover it.
Where do you buy those seeds?
Public: At the local markets.
Are the seeds expensive?
Public: We buy them in bags.
But are they expensive?
Public: Yes, very expensive.
Will it grow if it doesn’t rain?
Public: If there is no rain we would water them ourselves. We sometimes buy it in Abricot when it’s not available locally in Port au Prince.
Jacky: Sometimes we need the seeds but there no place to find it, not even in the local markets.
When you don’t have products to sell to ROPANIP, where do they get food to feed the school children?
Lejye: Well, they have rice, beans, wheat, corn, and flower. They serve them different food.
When you have products to sell do you go to ROPANIP and offer your product or do they call you when they need the products?
Public: No. They call us.
ROPANIP calls you and asks if you have the products that they need?
Lejye: They come to ask when they need the products. For example, if they need militon they would come to us and ask for it. We would bring them what we have available to sell.
In general, when you take your products to the local market who mostly buys them from you? Are the buyers women who came from different places?
Public: Most of the buyers are Madame Sarah. They came from many different places to buy our products.
Are the Madame Sarahs purchasing the products in bulk?
Public: Yes, in bulk. They sell in Port au Prince and Lagonave. They buy the products and sell them all over the country.
When you need to buy seeds for planting where do you get money to buy them? The reason I am asking is because you said the seeds are very expensive? How do you get money to purchase the seeds you need?
Jacky: We use our own money.
Are you using the money you make from selling your products to buy the seeds?
Jacky: Sometimes when facing hardship we go the bank to get loans. We would go to Unibank to get a loan.
Is there a place where you can borrow the seeds you need?
Public: No, there is not such place. You cannot borrow seeds. You have to buy them. You cannot borrow them.
Jacky: You take a loan to buy the seeds.
Lejye: You take the loan from Unibank to buy the seeds you need.
How much is the interest from Unibank?
Lejye: Well, that depends on how much you take.
Ok. What is the biggest amount you can take?
Lejye: You can borrow as much as you want.
Kalaf: You take an amount that you can repay back. If you take a loan for 5,000 gourdes the interest is 1,000 gourdes.
If you take a loan of 5,000 gourdes you will pay 1,000 gourdes as an interest?
Public: Yes, yes.
How many months is the loan for?
Public: It is for 5 months.
After the five months, how much money will give back to the bank?
Public: You give back 6,000 gourdes.
Do you harvest every season?
Public: We harvest every 3 months.
Kalaf: Right now we are working all the time. There is no harvest right now.
You work all the time?
Kalaf: Yes, all the time.
Do you sometimes have dry seasons?
Public: Yes. Of course! We have to deal with it too.
Jacky: We face dry season most often in December.
How do you water your farms during the dry seasons?
Lejye: We buy the water. There are many water reservoirs; we buy water to water the plants.
Kalaf: Now we are buying the water but if a water reservoir can be donated to us we would really like that.
Jacky: Sometimes we have great loss because we lack the funds to buy fertilizers for the plants. In many cases we can lose a whole crop because we don’t have money after planting to buy fertilizers.
Lejye: We do not have money.
Jacky: That is why sometimes we lose a whole crop.
Lejye: Sometimes we have a farm of cabbage and a Madame Sarah from Port au Prince comes and buys the whole production in cash. You won’t have to sell it in different sections because she buys the whole production. You can sell the whole production for 2,000, 15,000, 20,000 dollar[6]. But in order for you to make all that money you need to be able to handle all the needs of production.
Jacky: You have to be able to care for the crop to make money off of it.
Lejye: You need to be able to care for the cabbage.
Jacky: Yes!
Lejye: You can make a lot of money from the yellow yam too.
What causes worms to attack the cabbage? Is there a season when that happens most?
Lejye: Yes, there is season when it happens most.
Jacky: No, the reason it happens is because from the beginning you did not prepare the planting correctly.
Kalaf: Firstly, you need to spray the cabbage.
Lejye: You need a pump to put the pesticide in. You carry the pump on your back and walk around the farm and spray the plants.
Kalaf: If you do that worms will not attack the cabbage.
You have to spray then?
Lejye: Yes, the farm becomes very beautiful after you spray it. if you spray it, there will not even be a single blemish on the cabbage leaves.
Do you also have to spray carrots?
Public: No! Only cabbage needs to be sprayed.
Do you also produce potatoes here?
Public: What! Yes! Of course!
Lejye: The only production we don’t have here is rice.
Jacky: We don’t have rice and sugar.
Lejye: We don’t produce rice, sugar, flower, and millet.
Edi: Besides these we produce everything else.
Jacky: Also about fertilizer, sometimes we cannot find fertilizer. The reason is because they buy it at low price in Fond des Nègres and save it until there is no more locally to make more money from it. Now if they buy for 300 dollar they want to make another 300 dollar profit.
Edi: That is why our farms are suffering.
Lejye: They buy the fertilizer for $300HTG; we pay them $600HTG for it.
Kalaf: That is how it is.
Doesn’t the fertilizer sometimes have a negative effect on the land?
Edi: No, there is no negative effect on the land.
Jacky: In fact, it makes the land produce more.
Lejye: It fertilizes the land. It will give you three harvests in one year.
The land produces more food?
Public: Yes.
Lejye: After the first harvest you need to have animals walk and eat on the harvested land. After that you can start your next planting process.
Public: Laughter
Is there another question? We are satisfied with the information you provided to us. We already told what we are here for and what we will do with the information you provided to us. I don’t know if you have any question that you would like to ask our team.
Lejye: The question I have for you is how you can help us. How will you help us personally?
Kalaf: Do you have a vision to help us in the future?
What we will do is take what you tell us to PAM. You know the program they have is buying local food to give to different schools.
Public: Yes.
The program is called “’Home-grown’ School Meals”. The program is giving local farmers a push in production.
(chicken squawking in the background)
At the same time the program is giving the school children nutritious meals. As you said for production to increase they would need to help you in the process. As for us what we can do… Yes, would you like to say something?
Public: Laughter
We cannot promise you anything except taking what you said in our discussion to PAM. Are you getting any help from PAM?
Public: No,no,no
Well, we will tell them that.
Kalaf: Even if you tell them that, they will not do anything. Even if we ask them, they will not help us.
Lejye: It is a very stingy NGO.
Kalaf: They will not believe you when you tell them that.
Jacky: They don’t see us as people they want to help.
Really? What can they do to help you?
(Chicken is still making squawking noise).
I would like you to know there are certain things I cannot do. I am always complaining about NGOs and organizations who were supposed to help farmers but they are not helping them. The reason I complain about it is because many of my friends give money to these NGOs to help farmers.
Jacky: No, they are not helping farmers.
Lejye: I see what you mean.
What you have to know is that the process to help people is complicated. It doesn’t seem to be complicated but it is complicated.
Lejye: You think what they are doing is complicated?
Yes. These people are from the cities.
Jacky: Hummmm.
They don’t understand the system of the countryside. They don’t know how to get the aid to the people. Sometimes they give the aid to someone to give out that person takes it for himself.
Lejye: They understand because there is always a lackey with them to tell them what to do.
Like you mentioned, they can give the aid to someone and that person takes it all for himself.
Public: Yes, yes.
They take it and then sell to the people.
Public: Yes
Can you give a suggestion on how to avoid something like that from happening? What can they do?
Lejye: We cannot do anything in that case. We cannot ask for justice because it is a private company? Do you understand?
Yeah
Jacky: All are the same…
Lejye: What we can do is work to give our own participation. As for me I think we should sell the products at the local market. Let’s say for example some poor woman with three or four children whose father had died purchases product from me to sell at another market. I will give her a better deal so she can maybe make an extra 25 gourdes interest to live on.
(Coughing)
Lejye: Do you understand what I am saying? If a company is not functioning well I rather sell my product at the local market.
Jacky: Yes, I agree with you.
Lejye: But if a company is giving me social aid I will attach myself with that company.
(sound of a motorcycle driving by)
You will attach yourself to this company?
Kalaf: Yes, I will attach myself to the company.
Lejye: As for this company (WFP), we cannot attach ourselves to it.
Kalaf: They are taking advantage of us.
Lejye: Yes!
Jacky: What I think the solution is, for example if you are the director of WFP what you can do is come with the materials you would like to give. Call all the farmers in a meeting and give materials to them. If every time you want to give aid to the farmers instead of giving it to them directly you give to a director of an organization to distribute, the farmers will never receive it. We are ruined if they keep using this method.
Lejye: They will never give it to us.
Are you saying that WFP should have a direct relationship with you? Are you saying that WFP should buy your product directly from you?
Jacky: Yes, what I am saying is that they might send the aid as a gift to us but people who are in charge of distribution will keep it for themselves. They will have us buy it from them.
Lejye: They will sell the aid in their boutik[7]. We will have to buy the aid from them.
Kalaf: They will take the aid for themselves.
Are you saying for example if seeds are sent as a donation that the leaders will not give them to the farmers but instead sell to them?
Public: Yes!
How can we avoid something like that from happening?
Jacky: Now we are also selling them our products. It should not be like that.
Ok. The same people who took the aid are also buying your products from you? These people are selling your product to ROPANIP?
Jacky: Yes, that’s how it is.
Lejye: It’s a headache( Laughs)
Jacky: If it continues like that they will never be a future for us.
Lejye: Do you understand?
Jacky: We should sit down together and talk about it.
Lejye: We want a company who has great ideas. Who will sit down and talk to us like you are doing.
Kalaf: We will attach ourselves with a company like that.
Lejye: We will work together.
Kalaf: 1, 2, 3, 4, we all will work together with it.
Lejye: We would be happy if we have you as our leader. You could be our judge, mayor, senator, or even our president. The young lady will also be part of the group.
Jacky: Yes, that would be a pleasure.
Lejye: Now it is up to you to see if you can help us in that way. If you can’t, I am sorry for us.
Edi: Yes.
Lejye: We have land to work but we cannot work the land.
Why can’t you?
Kalaf: We don’t have a plan.
Lejye: We don’t have money.
Public: We don’t have seeds.
You don’t have seeds to plant?
Jacky: We don’t want to take loans from the bank.
Can the land produce?
Lejye: Yes.
Public: The land is good for production.
Kalaf: It can produce.
Lejye: What is effective about those lands are the pine trees. The pine needles pull the clouds on the land. It always rains on the plateau. The lands are always producing. But we need fertilizers for the plants. After 15 to 20 days you have to put fertilizer on the plants again. Then you scrape (sic) off the fertilizer. A well cared production like that will always make money.
Jacky: You will not lose you money.
Lejye: Even if you take a loan of $10,000 HT you will be able to repay the loan.
Edi: Even you take great care of production if you don’t use fertilizer it will not make money.
Lejye: If the production does not get fertilize it will not produce much.
Kalaf: You need to scrape off the fertilizer at least 3 times.
Jacky: A bag of fertilizer costs around $300HTG.
Kalaf: $300HTG.
Jacky: You might have sent the fertilizer as a gift to us.
Kalaf: They would have us buy it from them.
Jacky: The fertilizer could have been sold for $200HT but they save it for later time and have you pay $300HT or $400.
Kalaf: That is how they do it.
Jacky: Now the poor people are suffering because they don’t have money to pay for it.
Edi: If the farms don’t get fertilizer we will lose the harvest.
Jacky: I can’t sell them on credit.
Edi: It’s not fair.
Lejye: Now the lands are ruined. How did that happen? In the past we used to work the land without fertilizer. After a visit at the center from an agronomist whose name was
Alex, he told us farmers to use fertilizer in farming in order to produce more.
(coughing).
Lejye: Truly we do produce more when we use fertilizer. But now if you plant and don’t use fertilizer the land will not produce.
Jacky: It will not produce.
Lejye: It will not produce.
Jacky: It’s like you didn’t plant at all.
Lejye: If you don’t use fertilizer you shouldn’t plant at all. JJ Do you understand? Sometimes we face hardship and would like to plant but we cannot.
Jacky: You cannot.
(Several participants are complaining about the hardship they are facing.)
Lejye: The loan is about 25% (coughing) or 20%. A hurricane came and suddenly you lose everything. You try to avoid taking a loan.
Public: You see?
Lejye: You would suddenly see a government car with tainted windows coming to get you.
Public: Laughter
Lejye: They don’t care if the hurricane or the sun destroyed the whole production.
Jacky: When you are getting the loan from the bank, they told you that they don’t care about hurricanes or droughts.
Public: Laughter
Lejye: They don’t care about any problem you might face.
Public: Laughter
Lejye: No matter what happen you have to pay them back.
Jacky: If when you were taking the loan you had showed them your small house as a guarantee, you shouldn’t have any hope of the house because they will take it as payment if you can’t pay them back.
Public: Laughter
They will take your home as payment?
Lejye: Your home belongs to them now!
(Coughing)
Jacky: That is why not everyone can get a loan. If you don’t own land, animals, or a house the bank will not give you a loan. The bank needs to see you have something you can sell to pay them back.
Public: Laughter
You will not get a loan from them again?
Jacky: Are these people who want to help the poor?
Lejye: That is not how sharing is done.
Edi: HEYYY! Laughter
Jacky: I believe that in a country that is organized people share with each other. For example, if someone planted cabbage and doesn’t have the money to buy fertilizer, someone could help that farmer get the fertilizer he needed for his farm.
Lejye: No, there should be an agreement with the people selling fertilizers.
Jacky: Exactly!
Lejye: At first he should sell you the fertilizer you need for planting….
Jacky: After the harvest you know you have to meet with that person…
Lejye: Yes, meet with him.
Jacky: You will meet with him to pay what you owe him for the fertilizer.
Kalaf: Yes.
Lejye: You will have to pay something extra for that.
Jacky: You will not get help from them. You will lose your harvest for sure.
Edi: They don’t see us as people to help.
Lejye: Even if you live at the bottom of the ocean they will take your land if you cannot pay back the loan.
Jacky: Yes.
Public: Laughter
Lejye: Now do you see the type of problem we have in the country? That‘s why we don’t look up to these companies. We had to keep our heads down like zombies.
Jacky: The country could have been developed but there is no support for us.
(Rooster crowing)
Jacky: The majority received aid that is why they are functioning. But not us.
Lejye: The company (WFP), what is its nationality? I don’t know its nationality.
(Rooster crowing)
Lejye: What is the name of the company you said you are representing? WFP
Lejye: WFP, yes. It’s an American company?
No, United Nations.
Lejye: United Nations? Doesn’t that mean American?
No, it’s not American. USAID is American.
Lejye: Oooh, ok.
CARE is also American.
Lejye: Each company and country has an acronym.
Mmmhummm.
Lejye: There is no society. Ok.
WFP mostly gives food aid. It will be giving a lot of food in Jeremy for example.
Edi: Hummm, Jeremy.
Lejye: As for us we never receive any aid. We are functioning with the small amount we have.
Edi: We never receive aid around here.
Kalaf: Look how the hurricane destroyed all the farms here!
Reno: Even that church over there was destroyed by the hurricane.
Edi: Yes.
(Rooster crowing)
Reno: That big church over was destroyed by the hurricane and we will never get help to rebuilt it.
Edi: Do you see the metal sheets and the woods over there, all that was brought by the wind from the church.
Kalaf All the metal sheets…
Lejye: They were brought there by the wind from the hurricane.
The church was on top of that?
Public: Yes.
Edi: It destroyed it.
Lejye: The blocks…
Edi: The wind completely destroyed it.
Are you a pastor?
Reno: Yes.
Lejye: You see that over there is what the wind left for us.
Public: JJJ
Lejye: The wind took all the metal sheets.
It took all of them?
Lejye: Do you see where the church building was over there?
Umhumm
Lejye: It took the whole building and put it way over there.
Edi: Way over there is a meadow. There are no houses there.
Lejye: People took the remaining metal sheets and woods to build kitchens and houses.
Public: They did whatever they wanted with what remained.
Lejye: We will never get those metal sheets back.
Edi : We lost chickens, pigs, and cows.
Jacky: Yes.
Edi: Oh my gosh, we are disabled in this country!
No one came to help people in this community?
Jacky: No one came.
Lejye: We have not received any aid yet.
Edi: We have not got the chance yet.
Jacky: If they are coming we haven’t seen them yet.
Jeremy is getting most of the aid.
Kalaf: Everyone is headed to Jeremy.
They are going to Les Cayes too. Jeremy was in the middle of the hurricane. It was hit the hardest..
Edi: It seems to be worst in Jeremy.
I have friend in Jeremy who said there are no trees left. Natacha can you please take names and contacts of the participants.
You said this community is called Salagnac?
Public : Yes.
6th communal section of…
Lejye: Paillant
Jacky: Commune of Paillant
I want to take your name. What is your name?
Jacky: My name is….
Jacky?
Jacky: Yes.
….
Are you a farmer?
Jacky: Yes.
And the pastor….?
Kalaf Pastor
Reno?
…..
Do you have children? How many children do you have?
Kalaf: I have 5.
All of them are alive?
A bag is being zipped.
Kalaf Enhen
Do you have a phone number to be contacted?
Kalaf : My phone was stolen. They stole my phone.
Public: Laughter
Lejye: Phone is a like a toy nowadays.
Public: Laughter
Lejye: The thugs took my phone while I was sitting here and they laughed at me after they took it.
What is your name?
Edi: My name is Kalaf
Is Kalaf your father?
Kalaf: No.
Lejye: Cousins
Kalaf: Family
Lejye: Each child a brother and a sister.
Edi?
Edi: Yes.
Jacky: Pastor you could have given the number of someone in your house.
Reno: I will give it.
Do you children?
Edi: Me? Yes.
How many do you have?
Edi: Only 1
Do you have a phone number?
Edi: I don’t own a phone but I can give you a number to contact me.
(motorcycle passing)And you sir…
Lejye: Lejye Sazieu
Sazieu Lejye
Lejye: Mmmm
How many children do you have?
Lejye: I am left with 2, 3 died.
Do you have a phone number?
Lejye: Please, I want to give you 2 numbers.
Ok
Lejye: Yes (coughing) A Digicel and a Natcom (coughing)
And you…
Dezomis: Dezomis….
Dezom
Dezomis: Dezomis…
Are you a farmer?
Dezomis: I am a farmer, yes.
(A car is driving by)
How many children do you have?
Dezomis: 2, yes. Livelihood is hard.
Do you have a phone number?
….
- Are any of children in a school where they receive free lunch?
Dezomis and Lejye : No.
No one has children that receive a free lunch form school?
Dezomis and Lejye : No!
The community doesn’t have a school with the free lunch program?
Lejye: Yes, there is. Here is how it works. If you don’t give the child the 5 gourdes to pay for the lunch they will not give it to him. He will not eat on that day.
Is WFP providing the food for these schools?
Jacky : I don’t know if it is WFP
Lejye: I don’t know if it is the government.
****
Focus Group #10: Children in Cholette
Date of Focus group: 8/07/17
List of Participants
#1: Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade
#3: Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade
#4: Female; 13 years old; 5th grade
Focus Group
Socio-Dig: OK I am saying good afternoon to start with…
Children: Good afternoon
Socio-Dig: My name is Almathe, I am working with an organization called Socio-Dig. What do we do? We do research, we do research throughout all of Haiti. Today we are not coming for ourselves as Socio-Dig we are here today on behalf of the organization called WFP. I am here with me Mr. Serge and I will let him introduce himself.
Socio-Dig: Thank you Almathe, hello kids, greetings to you all.
Children: Good morning
Socio-Dig: As Almathe just said, my name is Serge and I am with working for Socio-Dig
Socio-Dig: OK today to continue, we are researchers for WFP. What does WFP do. WFP oversees supplying the school’s food. Do you get fed at your school?
Children: Yes
Socio-Dig: OK well today we want to ask you some questions. You can be at ease, they are not many questions you are going to hear. We want you to talk, not your mothers [laugh] you, OK,
OK?
Children: Yes
Socio-Dig: Do not be shy. You can tell me anything you want? Give me a list of your favorite food? For now, let us start with number you have with you… what is your number? Number 1 tell me all the food you like and the food you don’t like. What do you like?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Rice, beans, vegetables
Socio-Dig: Hmm, what else besides these that you like?
Socio-Dig: Go on you can continue to talk.
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Food that has beans.
Socio-Dig: Do you like food that has beans?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes, with meat.
Socio-Dig: With meat
Children: [laugh]
Socio-Dig: What food don’t you like, what don’t you like at all?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): What food? Even fruit?
Socio-Dig: Yes, any type of food, any.
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): I don’t like Sapotil
Socio-Dig: You don’t like Sapotil?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): No
Socio-Dig: OK. Give the food you don’t like: corn meal, millet you don’t like them.
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Corn meal, millet
Socio-Dig: Don’t you like these?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): No
Socio-Dig: OK what type for fruit do you prefer?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Mango
Socio-Dig: Hmmm, what else?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Avocado
Socio-Dig: What about in the morning, what do you like to eat in the morning?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Milk and cornflakes
Socio-Dig: Hmm
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Milk and cornflakes.
Socio-Dig: Milk and cornflakes, you prefer to eat in the morning?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: OK, what about fruit. What fruit you like to eat the most in the morning?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Mango
Socio-Dig: Mango? Tell me all food you like to eat, and all type of food you don’t like?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): I like….
Socio-Dig: What is your number?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Number 4
Socio-Dig: OK, every time you talk, tell me you are number 4, OK?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): I am number 4, I like rice and beans, I like rice, beans,
Vegetables.
Socio-Dig: Ummh. Hmm
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): I don’t like …. Breadfruit, I don’t like plantain.
Socio-Dig: OK, Hmm
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): I like mixed rice with vegetables.
Socio-Dig: Hmm
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): I like rice, beans sauce, vegetables.
Socio-Dig: What else do you like?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): I don’t like millet
Socio-Dig: Don’t you like millet?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): No
Socio-Dig: In the morning, what do you in the morning before heading to school?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): I eat corn meal in the morning.
Socio-Dig: Corn meal and what else?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Corn meal
Socio-Dig: What do you prefer to eat the most in the morning?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Mango
Socio-Dig: Mango, OK and you what is your favorite food before heading to school?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): In the morning before going to school, I eat spaghetti.
Socio-Dig: You eat spaghetti?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: What else do you like most to eat in the morning?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): I like to eat spaghetti, I like to eat rice.
Socio-Dig: OK, only in the morning, your parents always give you money for school?
Children: Yes
Socio-Dig: What do you do with that money?
Children: At times we pay for other food with it.
Socio-Dig: One after the other, what is your number, state your number?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Number 3
Socio-Dig: Hum, what do you do with it?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): At times I would pay for food with it. At times, we eat fried dough.
Socio-Dig: Fried dough?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): At times I pay for food. I buy candies or fried dough with it.
Socio-Dig: And you what do you do with your money?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): At times, I pay for food with it and at times I eat candy with
it.
Socio-Dig: You eat candy?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: What type of candy do you like to eat?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Salty cookies/biscuit
Socio-Dig: Salty biscuit. Do you like to eat biscuit too?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: What type of biscuit you like?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Biscuit Anika
Socio-Dig: Anika?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: OK, you like biscuit or you prefer fried dough?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Fried dough
Socio-Dig: Fried dough, OK. What do you prefer to eat most, sweet or salty food?
Children: Salty food
Socio-Dig: Number 3 why do you prefer salty food, go ahead you can talk.
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): For me not to have upset stomach.
Socio-Dig: Not to have upset stomach.
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Why is it that I eat more salty food? If I eat … rather if I eat sweet food I would be full of worms. I would rather eat salty food instead of sweets in the morning.
Socio-Dig: OK, thank you.
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Me, the reason I prefer to eat salty food, if I eat something sweet it will upset my stomach.
Socio-Dig: OK your stomach hurts when you eat?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: Something sweet?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: OK, in the school what do they give to eat?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Rice and pureed beans.
Socio-Dig: Everyday? Tell me during the week what food do you eat every day number 3. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday what do you eat?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Monday, I eat rice with pureed beans.
[5 minutes]
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Tuesday, they give us mixed rice with mushed vegetables, Wednesday, they usually give us stew. Thursday, rice with pureed beans again and Friday they give us rice with mushed vegetables.
Socio-Dig: OK, of all these meals, which one do you prefer the most and which one do you like the least.
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Rice with pureed beans.
Socio-Dig: You like the most?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: Which one do you like the least?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): I don’t like the stew.
Socio-Dig: Why, why don’t you like the stew, do you know? [it has too many good stuffs in it] [laugh]
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): I like rice and vegetables, rice and bean sauce. I don’t like stew. I like rice with mushed vegetables, rice and pureed beans, I don’t like the stew.
Socio-Dig: Why don’t you like the stew?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): No reason.
Socio-Dig: No reason?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: And you?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): I prefer rice, and I like the stew with rice and
pureed beans and mushed vegetables.
Socio-Dig: Vegetables?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: You don’t like….
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Rice
Socio-Dig: You don’t like the stew?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): That’s what I like the most.
Socio-Dig: The stew?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: Really?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: OK. What do you like the most in the stew?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): I like the plantains
Socio-Dig: OK
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): I like it, I like it what is in it, like the dumplings. I like them.
Socio-Dig: Dumplings. OK.
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): I like manioc and sweet potatoes.
Socio-Dig: You like sweet potatoes. OK. Do you know the meaning of local food and imported food. Do you know the difference?
Children: No.
Socio-Dig: No?
Children: No.
Socio-Dig: You know what is local food? If I say local food, do you know what that means?
Children: No.
Socio-Dig: Local foods are are produced and prepared locally, in the local, in the neighborhood, in the area. As an example, plantain, manioc most of those are cultivated here. Imported foods are foods that come in a plastic bag from foreign lands. You usually don’t know what is in them and how they are manufactured. I you must choose the best food which one the two choices would you choose? Number….
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): In what?
Socio-Dig: Between foreign food and locally produced food?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Our local.
Socio-Dig: Locally produced food, why?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Because it is better. The foreign one has worms in it.
Socio-Dig: OK, hum what is your number?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Number 4. The local food has better taste and the foreign food …. Don’t have … some are made with plastic.
Socio-Dig: Ooo. OK. When your parents give you money to go to school, do they give you food to eat too?
Children: Yes
Socio-Dig: For you to take to the school?
Children: No, no.
Socio-Dig: No, do you bring food to school?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): When she does not have money, when she does not have money, we don’t get any. When she does, I get it.
Socio-Dig: How much money they usually give you?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): At one time, she will give me 10 or 15 goud (.10 to 16 cents)
Socio-Dig: OK what do you do with all that money?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): If she gives me 15 goud, I will pay for food for 10 goud and with the remaining 5 goud I will buy lollipopst.
Socio-Dig: You buy candy, besides the lollipops. What else you like to buy with the money?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Cookies
Socio-Dig: What type of cookies?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Any type of cookies.
Socio-Dig: Any type of cookies. And you when you receive money, what do you do with it. How much money do you usually receive?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): They sometimes give 10 goud (.10 cents). I pay 5 goud to buy fried dough to eat.
Socio-Dig: And you what do you like, you like fried dough?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: Hmm, number 1.
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): The reason I like the local rice it is because it has vitamin in it.
Socio-Dig: Because it has vitamins in it?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: And when they give you money to go to school what do you do with the money?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): I use it to buy food.
Socio-Dig: To buy food?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: Do you purchase cookies at school?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: What type of cookies do you buy?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Salix
Socio-Dig: Salix is your favorite?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes, and lollipops.
Socio-Dig: Lollipops. OK. Do they give you food every day?
Children: Somedays, somedays they don’t give us any.
Socio-Dig: Somedays they don’t give you any?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): When we don’t pay the fee.
Socio-Dig: When you donot pay the fee, they don’t give you food?
Children: No.
Socio-Dig: OK. In what school do they do that, in the National school? Are you in the National school? When they don’t give you money they don’t give you food.
Children: No.
Socio-Dig: They send you back home or they don’t give you food?
Children: They don’t give us food
[10 minutes]
Socio-Dig: That means you are loOKing at the other kids eat, and you don’t get any food?
Children: Yes.
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): The ones who have not paid the fee.
Socio-Dig: The ones who did not pay the fees, they do not get to eat?
Children: Yes
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Sometimes we step out.
Children: Sometimes they ask us to leave the room or sometimes they ask us to sit in anyway.
Socio-Dig: Sometimes they ask us to leave the room or sometimes they ask us to sit in anyway. Do they send you back home or beat you?
Children: Yes, they sometimes send us home and they sometimes beat us.
Socio-Dig: When you don’t have the fees?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): They say that our parents give us the money and we squandered it on other food.
Socio-Dig: Ooo. Is it true your parents give you the money but you use it to buy other foods?
Children: No.
Socio-Dig: No?
Children: No.
Socio-Dig: OK. What do your mothers tell you when you tell them you were beaten? When you get home, do you tell your mothers?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): I don’t say anything.
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): We don’t say it.
Socio-Dig: Why don’t you tell?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): If we say that, we will receive another beating. No, I said they don’t send me back home, they only make me sit.
Socio-Dig: OK. What if you tell your mother about it, she will beat you?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: Why would she beat you?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): If I misbehave I will get a beating and when I tell her I will get another beating.
Socio-Dig: Nom t not for being naughty. For instance if you don’t give the school the fee for food, do they beat you for that at the school?
Children: No.
Socio-Dig: They don’t give you food?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes, the Grade 6th teacher would say he/she will send us back home.
Socio-Dig: OK. Do you have to pay the food fees daily?
Children: Nom not every day. Sometimes when our parents do not have the fees… no not every day we have to pay.
Socio-Dig: How much money do you give every week, or every day?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): We pa 25 goud, 50 goud, 20 goud, 15 goud. They don’t accept 5 goud.
Socio-Dig: They don’t take 5 goud?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): No.
Socio-Dig: Go ahead, what are you saying?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): They take 5 goud from me.
Socio-Dig: Number 3.
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes, they have taken 15 goud and I have given 25 goud.
Socio-Dig: For how many days the 25 goud?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): For the week.
Socio-Dig: For 5 days, one week. When you give 15 goud, it is for 3 days?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: That means they remember when you give. If you don’t pay, they will cook the food and you will not get any?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): No.
Socio-Dig: OK. Is the amount of food they give you always…. too small or enough? When you are done eating, do you still feel hungry?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Sometimes I still feel hungry and sometimes my belly is full.
Socio-Dig: OK. What type of food they give you that would make still feel hungry most often.
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Rice with pureed beans
Socio-Dig: Rice and with pureed beans are usually not enough for you?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: But when they give it to you, you still feel hungry.
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): No, I don’t eat that much.
Socio-Dig: You don’t eat a lot [laughs]?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Number 3 Rice and pureed beans can fill me up.
Socio-Dig: When it is stew does it fill you up.
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: OK. Do you like it? Does it taste good?
Children: Yes
Socio-Dig: Does the food taste good?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: Tastes good?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: You like it?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes [laugh]
Socio-Dig: You can tell me if you really don’t like it, you will not be in trouble.
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): At times, I give it away. Other times I sell it.
Socio-Dig: Sell? You sell the food to other kids [laugh]. How much do you sell it for?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): For 5 goud.
Socio-Dig: For 5 goud.
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: Why do you sell it?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Because I will not eat it.
Socio-Dig: You will not eat it? There are several children that beans do not go well with,
they don’t eat the black beans.
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): I don’t eat black beans. They gives me heart burn.
Socio-Dig: OK. And you?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): I usually eat mine, but at times I would sell it as well.
Socio-Dig: You sell it too?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: What type of food you sell the most?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Rice and mushed vegetables.
Socio-Dig: You don’t like them?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): No.
Socio-Dig: What type of food do you like the most, the school food or the food at home?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Home cooked food.
Socio-Dig: Why? [Silence…] What type of food you prefer to eat, home food or at the school food?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): I like both.
Socio-Dig: You like both?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: OK. And you, what food do you favor most? Ahh don’t tell me! I know already … home cooked food. You don’t like the school food? OK. In the afternoon, after school, when you get home, what does your mother leave for you?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): She will leave rice, cooked food. Once we remove the uniform we can sit to eat and then after we can sit and study.
Socio-Dig: What type of food do they usually leave for you?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): At times, rice.
Socio-Dig: Rice.
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): At times corn meal.
Socio-Dig: OK and you…?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): At times rice and other times corn meal
Socio-Dig: Same thing for all of you?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: And you what type of food they leave for you after school?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): At times, they will leave me rice with meat for me [laugh] … with bread and eggs.
Socio-Dig: OK, now if you had a choice of other food to give you in the school? Each one of you will tell me 3 foods you would prefer to be served?
[15 minute]
Socio-Dig: Number 3
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): They should give rice.
Socio-Dig: No, you already have rice. It is food you don’t have now.
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Corn meal.
Socio-Dig: Corn meal. What else?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): They can give cracked wheat.
Socio-Dig: Cracked wheat.
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Dumplings
Socio-Dig: There are no dumplings?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): There are no dumplings.
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Spaghetti.
Socio-Dig: They don’t give you dumplings. The stew has no dumplings?
Children: No
Socio-Dig: What does the stew have in it?
Children: Sweet potato, manioc, yam
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): At times they put breadfruit.
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Breadfruit.
Socio-Dig: OK and you what would you like to be added? What other food you like you would you like to be added?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Manioc.
Socio-Dig: Manioc?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Spaghetti.
Socio-Dig: Ummh, Spaghetti.
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Plantain.
Socio-Dig: Plantain, there is sweet plantain or, what type of plantain?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Plantain.
Socio-Dig: Plantain ummmh
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Malanga.
Socio-Dig: Malanga OK. To add to the stew?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: And you number 1, what food would you like to be added… would you like any other food to be added to what you get now?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Plantains.
Socio-Dig: Ummh, how would you like the plantains to be prepared, boiled?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): No, fried.
Socio-Dig: Fried plantain. What else?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): With milk.
Socio-Dig: With milk. And what else?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): With bread and peanut butter.
Socio-Dig: Bread and peanut butter?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: OK. Now if they were to tell you that today you will get, for example, cooked food and tomorrow they will give you other non-cooked food. What type of non-cooked food would fill you up you would prefer? Number 3.
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): To fill my belly, rice and pureed beans?
Socio-Dig: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): No, rice and pureed beans are cooked food. Non-cooked food?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Non-cooked food? They can give me milk with peanut
butter and bread.
Socio-Dig: Milk with peanut butter and bread
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: And you?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Milk, bread and eggs
Socio-Dig: Milk, bread and eggs?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: OK you were saying?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): I would like milk with bread with… peanut butter with cassava and apple.
Socio-Dig: With apple OK, you know what is akasan (corn milk puree) do you drink akasan?
Children: Yes
Socio-Dig: You don’t like…. If they give you akasan in the school wouldn’t you like it?
Children: Yes
Socio-Dig: Why didn’t you mention akasan then?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Me I don’t like it
Socio-Dig: You don’t like akasan?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): No
Socio-Dig: Really?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): No
Socio-Dig: If they were to give you oatmeal, would you like oatmeal?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: And you?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: You would prefer oatmeal?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: At times do you think some kids would get more food than others? You think… You think each kid gets the same amount of food?
Children: Yes
Socio-Dig: Or are there kids who get more food than you?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): No, we get the same quantity
Socio-Dig: Same quantity
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: And you?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): At times when we don’t pay, those who pay receive a bigger portion and those who don’t pay receive a smaller portion.
Socio-Dig: OK
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Those who don’t give.
Socio-Dig: How do you see that?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): They don’t give all kids the same quantity.
Socio-Dig: They don’t give all kids the same quantity?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): No, some get smaller portions, others bigger portions, some
get smaller portions.
Socio-Dig: Ah. Ok
Socio-Dig: And why do they do that?
Children: [laugh] Because they don’t pay
Socio-Dig: Do you like when that happens?
Children: No
Socio-Dig: What do the kids say when that happens?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): What?
Socio-Dig: What do they say?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): [laughs] Nothing
Socio-Dig: They don’t say anything?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): No, at times some kids would speak up to get more food and they will get a belt to quiet them down.
Socio-Dig: OK. When do you feel most hungry during the day? Number 3, are you saying something? When do you feel the hungriest, morning, noon or night? When do you feel most hungry?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): In the morning I feel hungry.
Socio-Dig: In the morning. Hmm, you when do you feel most hungry?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): When they give me food in the morning?
Socio-Dig: When you get food in the morning?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: And you?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): In the morning
Socio-Dig: In the morning OK. Do you like the time that the meal is given at school? When they give the meal, would you prefer it earlier or later?
[20 minutes]
Children: Earlier
Socio-Dig: Earlier?
Children: Yes
Socio-Dig: Why earlier?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Because when they do not cook at home, so we would eat
earlier?
Socio-Dig: Even though they serve the meal earlier, around the same time, would you still feel hungry?
Children: Yes
Socio-Dig: When you feel hungry again, what would you do?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Nothing
Socio-Dig: Hey?
Children: Nothing
Socio-Dig: You would not do anything?
Children: No
Socio-Dig: Would you like to get the meal earlier?
Children: Yes
Socio-Dig: OK. Tell me how many kids your mother has and where are you in the order of children, first, second or third…?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): My mother has 5 children.
Socio-Dig: 5 children?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes, the first one is called Michael.
Socio-Dig: Are you the first or the second, where are you? Second one?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes, the first is name Michael, I am called Jackson, the third one is called Wyderson, and the fourth is called Wylison and the fifth one is called William.
Socio-Dig: OK. 5 boys?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: OK, are you all in the school program or who is in the school program?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): There are many.
Socio-Dig: Many of you in it, all of you, your older brother is in it as well?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): My older brother is in school in the afternoon.
Socio-Dig: OK. And you with all your younger brothers, you are in the morning school?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: All of you get food?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: And you?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): My mother has 6 children.
Socio-Dig: Where are you in the order?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): I am called Ritnelle, the first one is called Ritanaelle
Chaelle, the second one is called Guedeline, the third one is called Sonson, the fourth is called
Jimmy, the sixth is called Maken.
Socio-Dig: And you are the fifth one, are you?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): The first one.
Socio-Dig: You are the first. OK. Are the other kids in the feeding program? How many of your mother’s kids are in the program?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): I am the only one.
Socio-Dig: Only you?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: And the others, why aren’t they in the program?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): They are in the program, but they are not attending the same school I attend.
Socio-Dig: OK. They are not in the same school with you, but they are in a canteen program?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: What school are they i?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): I live somewhere else, they don’t live in the same place as I do.
Socio-Dig: They live in Poji?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: They are in the program in a school in Poji?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: And you?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): My mother has 3 children. The first one is called Peter, the second is called Fredelain, third one … I am the third one I am called Fredeline.
Socio-Dig: OK. How many of your mother’s children are in school with the program canteen?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): The two of us.
Socio-Dig: The two of you?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: Both of you are in the same school?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: OK, I have other questions for you, do you known how to do a garden with your
mother and father?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: What crops do you do plant?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): I usually help them in planting corn, I would help them dig holes for the corn seeds and after I help with the weeding.
Socio-Dig: OK
Socio-Dig: You know how to throw a hoe?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: You know how to pick corn as well?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: Have you ever helped carry produce to the city of Miragoane to sell with your parents?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): No, I have not done so.
Socio-Dig: You have not done so?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): No
Socio-Dig: And you what do you know how to do?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): When my father goes to plant the corn, I would help him place the corn and I would help covering the holes.
Socio-Dig: You know how to pick beans.
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: And corn, you know how to sow it?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: Have you ever been to the market?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: Really?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes, I go to the market with my sister.
Socio-Dig: To go and sell?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: OK. When you go to sell, what do you to sell?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): We usually go and sell plantains and breadfruit.
Socio-Dig: OK. And you what do you know how to do?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): What?
Socio-Dig: And you what you know how to do?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): When my father goes to the field, I help him carry the wood
to make charcoal.
Socio-Dig: OK. And you usually help you father sow too.
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: What do you usually help plant?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): I usually help when he plants corn … I help put it in the hole.
Socio-Dig: OK
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): I cover the holes.
Socio-Dig: Cover the holes [laugh], you know how to pick corn?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: Really. corn to eat or to sell?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): To eat.
Socio-Dig (1): An OK, [laughs]. I have covered everything. I don’t know if you have other things you would like to add.
Socio-Dig (2): No, I think we covered it.
Socio-Dig: Do you have any questions for me, any questions you would like to ask me?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: Each one can ask me a question. You can go ahead and ask?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): I would like to know where are you from?
Socio-Dig: Where I am from [laughs]. For the moment I live in Port-au-Prince, is that what you wanted to know?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): I would like to know your family name?
Socio-Dig: Almathe Jean. Almathe Jean.
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: OK. What would you like to know?
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): I would to know what type of food you eat?
Socio-Dig: What food I eat? [laughs]
Socio-Dig: What food I like the most?
25 minutes
#1 (Female; 8 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: Avocado and bread[laugh] I love avocado, I love mango, I love grilled corn, boiled corn. I love them, these are my favorite foods.
Socio-Dig (2): We covered natural food salty and sweet.
Socio-Dig (1): Sweet we covered with them
Socio-Dig (2): Something else, do they know why they told us… Why are we doing it?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): What?
Socio-Dig (1): I told you why, do you remember why. I told you we are doing it, why we are asking the questions to do you remember when I mentioned it.
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): No
Socio-Dig: I told you at the beginning we are working for WFP. WFP is a World Food Program. They give some schools food to feed school children. They want to know if you, the children in the program, if you like the food, if you are satisfied with the food, what would you like to change in the food menu. You told me what you would like to change.
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: You like all types of food.
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: What food would you like to take off the menu?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): They can take off stew.
Socio-Dig: They can take away the stew?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: You don’t like the stew?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): I don’t like it
Socio-Dig: If they were to add dumplings to the stew?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): We will take the dumplings.
Socio-Dig: You would take the dumplings?
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: OK. It is the lack of dumplings that troubles them.
Socio-Dig: If the dumplings are added, would not have any objection to the stew.
#3: (Male; 10 years-old; 4th grade): No
Socio-Dig: OK.
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Personally, they can leave the stew on the menu.
Socio-Dig: Oh?
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Yes, with sweet potatoes.
Socio-Dig: With Sweet potatoes.
#4: (Female; 13 years old; 5th grade): Sweet potatoes.
Socio-Dig: [Laughs]. I like sweet potatoes too, fried sweet potatoes. OK, we would like to say thank you.
[27 minute]
Focus Group #11: Children in Dupuy
Date of Focus Group: 7/ 07 /17
Transcription: 24/ 07/ 2017- 28/ 07/ 17
List of Participants
#1: Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade
#7: Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade
#5: Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade
#4: Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade
#3: Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade
Focus Group
Socio-Dig: To begin children, I say hello [Noise of a truck passing]
Children: Hello
Socio-Dig: What I would like you to do for me, I would like for us all to pass round… Begin with number one. No, you do not need to get up, no, you can begin with… For example, we begin with number one. You say that you’re number one. [Noise of a motor bike passing]. I am in such and such grade. You may begin. I’m listening.
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): I am number one. I am in the 5th grade.
Socio-Dig: In what school?
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): Lalane et Pascale.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): I am number 7. I am in 6th grade in Lalane et Pascale.
#5 : I am number 5. I am in 5th grade. I am in at Lalane et Pascale.
[Noise of a motor bike passing]
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): I am number 4. I am in fourth grade. I am at Lalane et Pascale. [Noise of a motor bike passing]
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): I am number 3. I am in the 5th grade at Lalane et Pascale.
Socio-Dig: OK. In the morning before you go to school, what do you eat?
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): Spaghetti.
Socio-Dig: #1. Spaghetti, and after that, what else?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Speak.
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): Rice.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Before I come to school I eat Aktive. Sometimes I don’t eat Aktive. I eat Spaghetti.
Socio-Dig: What is Aktive?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Aktive? A rice.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): A rice that they call Little Panic.
Socio-Dig: A rice that’s called Little Panic? What’s it made of?
Children: It has all kinds of meat. Carrots.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): It has all kinds of milled meat. It comes in a closed bag.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): Before I go to school, I eat rice with greens. If I don’t eat rice with greens, I eat spaghetti.
Socio-Dig: Hmm.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): When I go to school, sometimes I eat spaghetti. If I don’t eat spaghetti, I eat rice.
Socio-Dig: Hmm.
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Before I go to school, I eat spaghetti. If I don’t eat spaghetti, they give me corn meal with greens.
Socio-Dig: OK, thank you. A question I would like to ask, what do you most like to eat, salt-food or sweet-food?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Salt-Food.
Socio-Dig: Salt-Food, why?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Because it gives me strength. Sweet food can give you any kind of bad sickness.
Socio-Dig: OK, any kind of bad sickness, like what?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Well, like diabetes.
Socio-Dig: Like diabetes. OK. Hmm.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): It can give you a stomachache. Sometimes. If you haven’t yet eaten something salty in the morning, you eat something sweet and it can give you a stomachache.
Socio-Dig: It can give you a stomachache. That means that you prefer…
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Salt-food.
Socio-Dig: You prefer something salty in the morning?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: OK,
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): When you have not yet eaten something salty, you go and eat something sweet and it can give you a toothache. I prefer salt-food.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): Before you go eat something sweet, you are supposed to eat something salty first. Because when you eat something sweet in the morning it can give you worms, make your stomach hurt. Me, I’m a person who before I come to school can’t eat something sweet. If I eat something sweet, I’ll vomit that salt-food I ate before.
Socio-Dig: OK, number one
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Speak louder.
Socio-Dig: What do you like more, salt or sweet food?
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): Salt-food.
Socio-Dig: Salt-food, OK. In the morning when you come to school, do your parents give you money?
Children: Yesss.
Socio-Dig: OK, let’s begin with you. How much money do they give you? And what do you do with the money?
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): Sometimes she gives me 10 goud, she gives me 15 goud. Before I come to school they fry dough. I take the fried dough. Before recreation I go and get some more fried dough.
Socio-Dig: OK. In the morning you eat some fried dough. How much does fried dough cost?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): They give you 2 for 1 dola (1 Haitian dola= 5 goud)
Socio-Dig: 2 for 1 dola, OK, and you?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Sometimes I come to school with 25 goud
[5 minute]
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): When you she doesn’t’ have anything, the smallest she gives me is 10 goud. And also, when I come to school, I get there, I take a little fried dough before I put my bookbag inside the classroom. After recreation, I do the same thing again [eat fried dough].
Socio-Dig: You do the same thing also?
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): When she doesn’t have more, she gives me 10 goud. Eh, in the morning I buy two pieces of fried dough for 1 dola (5 goud). At recreation I buy for 5 goud again.
Socio-Dig: For 5 goud again.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): When they let us out of school they give us food.
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): You mean before they let you out of school?
Socio-Dig: OK.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Before I come to school, if it’s a moment when my mother has money, she gives me 20 goud. Before I enter into the classroom I buy 10 goud of fried dough. After recreation I can’t eat fried dough again, I buy Salix crackers
Socio-Dig: Salix cookies. You’re speaking to us? Speak louder, you’re not shy. Speak louder. You can speak louder.
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): When I go in, I buy 5 goud of fried dough in the morning. At recreation I buy for 5 goud again.
Socio-Dig: OK, what type of cookies/crackers do you eat most?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Salt-crackers.
Socio-Dig: Salt-crackers, which brand?
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): Guarina
Socio-Dig: Guarina, OK. But isn’t there a type of sweet crackers that you buy?
Children: Sometimes we buy Anika. We buy fried dough. Or some Salix crackers..
Socio-Dig: OK, I hear you telling me that you buy crackers or cookies, you buy fried dough. But what do you drink?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): We buy a juice or a cola. When they ring the bell for us to go inside, we go so we can work.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): There are those who don’t have much money. There is a juice that sells for 5 goud. We buy one of those little juices.
Socio-Dig: OK. Do your mothers make food for you in the mornings? They give you food to take to school?
Children: They give us food, we eat it. But we don’t carry food to school. We eat at the house, but we don’t carry it to school.
Socio-Dig: OK, you eat at the house, but you don’t carry food to school with you.
Children: No.
Socio-Dig: OK. Now you have a canteen at the school?
Children: Yes.
Socio-Dig: Now I’m going to ask some questions about the canteen food you eat at school. What do they feed you each day?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): They usually give us…
Socio-Dig: Let’s say, let’s begin….
Children: Monday they feed us rice and bean sauce. Tuesday, they give us rice with beans and mushed vegetables. Wednesday, they give us white rice and stew.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): No, Wednesday they give us stew.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): Wednesday is stew.
Children: Thursday, white rice, mushed vegetables and bean sauce. Friday, rice and beans and mushed vegetables.
Socio-Dig: OK. You said Monday…
Children: White rice, bean sauce, mushed vegetables.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Tuesday, they give us rice and beans with mushed vegetables. Wednesday, they give us stew. Thursday, they give us rice and bean sauce.
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Rice and beans with bean sauce.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): No, white rice and bean sauce.
Socio-Dig: Rice, beans and mushed vegetables.
Children: Friday, they give us rice and beans and mushed vegetables.
Socio-Dig: OK. And out of all that food, what do you like the most?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Me, the food I like the most….
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Bean sauce I don’t really like. Nor stew. The food that I most like that they give is rice and beans with mushed vegetable.
Socio-Dig: OK. Why don’t you like bean sauce?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Sometimes it doesn’t digest well.
Socio-Dig: Beans, when you eat bean sauce at your house, it doesn’t digest well there too?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): No, all beans.
Socio-Dig: Beans that are cooked at school, or even beans that are cooked at your house?
Children: Same thing…
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Even beans cooked at my house.
Socio-Dig: They don’t sit well with you?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): No.
Socio-Dig: And you, what food do you most like?
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): I most like… I don’t really like bouyon. But rice and bean sauce and rice and beans with mushed vegetables I like.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): Only mushed vegetable I don’t like so much.
Socio-Dig: Why don’t you like mushed vegetables? What’s wrong with them?
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): Not mushed vegetables, it’s stew that I don’t really like
Socio-Dig: Why don’t you like stew?
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): Stew, eh, it doesn’t sit so well with me…
Socio-Dig: It doesn’t sit so well with you, what’s it do to you?
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): It makes me vomit.
Socio-Dig: It makes you vomit. OK.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): Me, when they make stew at my house, they don’t put any aside for me. They give me rice with bean sauce.
Socio-Dig: That means that it’s stew that you don’t like. It’s not stew at school that makes you sick. It’s that you don’t like stew at all.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): That’s right.
Socio-Dig: OK, and you, what food do you most like? And what food do you most not like?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): I don’t so much like rice with bean sauce because sometimes I drink bean sauce and it gives me acid.
[10 minutes]
Socio-Dig: It gives you acid when you drink it a school or in general?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): I can drink it at the house and it does the same think. It gives me acid.
Socio-Dig: It gives you acid?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: OK. And what do you most like?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Ha, I most like rice and beans and beans and mushed vegetables.
Socio-Dig: Rice and beans and mushed vegetables. OK.
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): I most like white rice with mushed vegetables. I don’t really like bean sauce. Sometimes it makes me vomit.
Socio-Dig: It makes you vomit?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): That’s right
Socio-Dig: OK. It makes you vomit, OK. That happens even when you drink it at school?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): In general.
Socio-Dig: In general. OK.
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): I most like rice and beans.
Socio-Dig: With mushed vegetables?
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): With mushed vegetables.
Socio-Dig: What do you not like at all?
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): Stew
Socio-Dig: Why don’t you like stew? Umm, you don’t know. (laughs). Is it every day that they feed you?
Children: Yes!
Socio-Dig: At what time do they give you food?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Sometimes they feed us at 11 o’clock.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Sometimes they feed us at 10 o’clock. When it’s prepared early, they give it to us.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): When it’s not prepared early, they feed us at 11 o’clock.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Or even at noon.
Socio-Dig: OK. Are there days that they don’t feed at all?
Children: No, everyday.
Socio-Dig: They feed everyday?
Children: Even when we have exams, they still have food.
Socio-Dig: It’s money… You know that every parent is supposed to give 5 goud to pay for the food.
Children: It’s 50 goud, yes, per month.
Socio-Dig: Fifty goud each month, OK. Even if it’s not you, are there children whose parents can’t pay the 50 goud per month?
Children: Yes.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): There are some no matter what.
Socio-Dig: There are some no matter what, OK. When that happens, what happens with those children. They don’t get fed, they send them home?
Children: No, no. They still feed them.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Sometimes.
Socio-Dig: Ehen, number 4.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Sometimes they send them home.
Socio-Dig: They send them home, OK.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): When they never pay the canteen, ever. There are mothers who never pay the canteen. They send them home to get the money to pay the canteen because it’s that money they need to collect to pay the teachers.
Socio-Dig: Hmm.
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Eh, not for the professors, rather to make food.
Socio-Dig: To make food, OK. But do those children, for example, the mothers or family who do not pay the canteen, is it the case that when they make food they do not give them any?
Children: If the child is there, they always feed them.
Socio-Dig: They still feed them?
Children: Yes
Socio-Dig: OK, in your opinion, do you think it’s a good thing when parents do not pay the 50 goud and they send the children home?
Children: No, it’s not good.
Socio-Dig: It’ not good?
Children: No.
Socio-Dig: Why not?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Because the money for the food is less, that’s what makes many parents not pay.
Socio-Dig: Wait, let me be clear with you. Do you think the parents should pay?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Yes, because we eat every day.
Socio-Dig: OK, you eat every day. When they send the children home, is that a good thing?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): It’s a bad thing. But they’re supposed to pay for the canteen.
Socio-Dig: You were not going to say anything number 4?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): When they send the children home it’s not good. When they’re going home, a vehicle could lose it brakes and hit them, all because they sent them home.
Socio-Dig: OK
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): All because they sent the child home.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): When someone…. When, eh, they send children home and they’re in the street, they could ask the child why they sent him home. He could say it’s because of the canteen. And then without looking behind him, he can cross the street and a vehicle could hit him.
Socio-Dig: OK..
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): When they send a child home, that’s not good for him. A teacher could give a lesson, when exams come it will he hard on him. I don’t really like when they send children home. There are times when parents really don’t have anything to give them. But then there are parents who do not pay when they could. That’s what I have to say.
Socio-Dig: OK. And you guys… You want to speak?
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): When they send children home…
Socio-Dig: Hey, no kidding around!
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): When they send a child home, a motorcycle could hit him?
Socio-Dig: That’s happened, that they sent a child home and a motorcycle hit him?
Children: In another school, that happened in another school.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): But there was a time once, they sent me home. While I was on my way home, I took off my uniform. I went to play football by my house. I smashed my ear. If they had not send me home that would never have happened.
Socio-Dig: You hurt it? (laughs)
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: Why did they send you home?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): I think it was because of the money for the canteen.
Socio-Dig: For the money for the canteen?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: OK. And you, they’ve sent you home too before? Is there anyone here who they’ve sent home because of the money for the canteen?
[15 minutes]
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Yes, they’ve sent me home. When they sent me home, when they sent me home… I went and told my mother they sent me home because of the canteen money. I said, “Mama, work it out so that you can give me the money to pay.” When my father came back he came and gave me 40 dola (200 goud) for the all the weeks I hadn’t paid. He gave me 40 dola, and I went and paid it straight away.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): Sometimes they send me home. Like they sent me home, as soon as my parents have money I asked my parents’ permission to take it. I didn’t miss a day etting it paid. As soon as the month begins, I pay.
Socio-Dig: You pay. OK.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): When they do something to give children food, it helps the parents a lot.
Socio-Dig: Umm.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): Parents cannot have the money to give their children to go to school with. But because of the canteen, they can give their head a rest. If a single worm were to kill a child in the school, it would…. Well, the one thing is that food at school isn’t made very early.
Socio-Dig: Umm.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): But we don’t die because of that.
Socio-Dig: OK. Does it ever happen that they give you money to pay, you take that money, but you spend it on something else?
Children: I’m not involved in anything like that. That never happens with me, but it happens with other kids.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): A boy name Kenny who’s in the 4th grade. His father gave him money to pay and he spent it.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): And they thought that he paid. When they asked him if he’d paid, he said yes. And then when they went to the school administration to pay the next time, they said they hadn’t paid the last month.
Socio-Dig: They hadn’t come to pay that month?
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): They hadn’t paid that month. Now you can…When they got home, they whipped him. After that they didn’t trust him with the money to pay again. Now the parents themselves go to pay. They know that he’s in school, they’ll pay the canteen fees. He didn’t pay, he took the money.
Socio-Dig: OK. Let me ask if it ever happens that the school keeps your grades at the end of the year, they don’t give the grades because you owe money for the canteen.?
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): Yes.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): There are some kids that happens to. But me, that’s never happened to me.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): That happens, but it’s never happened to me.
Socio-Dig: That’s never happened to you?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): No.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): They can go give them the money to get their grade book, they hand you the payment book for the canteen, so you can see that you haven’t paid.
Socio-Dig: Do you like the canteen?
Children: Yesss!
Socio-Dig: Why? Let’s begin with you. What does the canteen do for you and for your parents?
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): It does a lot for us. Because there are some days, I go to school, my mother goes to sell, she doesn’t leave any money for us. That, that can give me a program because when I get to school I can’t eat. But now, even if they don’t prepare the food early in the morning, at least we don’t go home hungry.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Me, sometimes I finish bathing, I put my uniform on, my mother and father don’t have anything to give me. I go to the kitchen at my house, get a little pebble of salt and put it under my tongue. After that I go to school. Because, because I take the little pebble of salt, that’s what helps me get through day until they feed us. As soon as they feed us, I’m good to go. After that I go home.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): After that they ring the bell and I go to my house.
Socio-Dig: OK. You go to your house.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Me, my mother often gets up in the morning and she doesn’t have anything to give me. I say, “You don’t have anything to give me, I am going.” When I get to school I can’t do anything. I sit in class and we work. Joking keeps me going. Now, when they let us go for recess, even though my mother didn’t give me anything, I eat. I have friends, their mother gave them some money to buy fried dough, I go into the classroom and eat with them.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): But before they let us go, they feed us. If I leave early…. [Sound a push cart passing]
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): There is a way that the canteen is very useful to me, and it helps my parents too. Even that doesn’t make me afraid. When I get home from school, they may not even give me money, they may not even have food, because there are no days when we don’t get fed at school. That makes me not afraid. I just study.
Socio-Dig: OK. Number 1, you want to speak?
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: OK. (laughs). I’m listening to you.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Speak louder.
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): When they have the canteen, I eat when my mother isn’t there. When my mother comes home she makes the food I eat.
Socio-Dig: She makes food for you. OK.
[20 minutes]
Socio-Dig: OK. Do you know what is local food and what is imported food? Do you know the difference? Imported food, that means food that comes from another country. What do you think is best? Local food or…
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): Local food, that’s what’s best.
Socio-Dig: Local food.
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): It’s us who produce it.
Socio-Dig: It’s you who produces it? OK. When you get home from school, do you always find food waiting for you?
Children: Yes, yes, yes.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): We find food already prepared when we get home from school.
Socio-Dig: Every day?
Children: Yes, there are sometimes though that we don’t find anything.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): There are times that we get there, we tell our mothers that we are hungry. And also, there is food that’s just been prepared. We take off our school uniforms, and after we eat, we bath. When we’re down bathing we study on the porch. In the morning we go over our lessons again. We get to school, and they make us recite them. Finished.
Socio-Dig: OK, that means that there are times that it’s you who must make food when you get home? Number 7.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): There are times that I also make food. But, whether I eat at school, I don’t care. Me, I’m the type of person, all the time I don’t know my lessons, I can’t put a taste of anything in my mouth. It’s when I’m finished with my lessons that I eat. Everyone at my house knows how I am. If you see me lying down and studying, no one calls me because all the time I don’t know my lesson no one is going to see my eyes on anything else. As soon as I know my lesson, I eat.
Socio-Dig: OK. And you number 4?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): I don’t have anything to say, no.
Socio-Dig: You don’t have anything to say?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): No.
Socio-Dig: And you number 3?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Me, as soon as I get home I always find food waiting for me. Because my mother, she sells cooked food. Even if I don’t find anything at the house, I just go to where my mother is, and I say, « Mama, I’m hungry! » She takes food out of the cauldron for me.
Socio-Dig: Let’s go over it again. Which food do you think is better, food that is produced in Haiti or food that is produced in other countries?
Children: Food that is produced in Haiti.
Socio-Dig: Why?
Children: Because it’s us who produce it.
Socio-Dig: Because it’s us who produce it, OK. What do you most like to eat, canteen food or food that is cooked at home.
Children: Both, both food that is cooked in the canteen, and food that’s cooked at home. We eat both.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Canteen food has something we like more because in the morning when our parents don’t have money to give us, we go there, we get sustenance that can kill a worm for us. But homecooked food, it’s only when we leave school at noon that we eat it. [Bird is singing loudly]. If we don’t get it in the morning before we go.
Socio-Dig: OK. Canteen food is tasty?
Children: Yess.
Socio-Dig: All the food is good every day?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): There’s one food I never eat at school.
Socio-Dig: What’s that?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Only the stew.
Socio-Dig: You don’t like stew at all.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): No, I don’t like it at all, at all. Even at home, I don’t eat it.
Socio-Dig: Is the amount of food they give you enough? Is it enough for you, or is it too little?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Seeing as there are so many children, they can’t give us a lot. But when there are children who do not come to school, they give us bigger helpings.
Socio-Dig: But when that happens, you guys are happy that they increased your serving? (laughs)
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): When they increase our food, we’re happy. (laughs) When they don’t have it, we’re happy too…
Socio-Dig: You’re satisfied? But is there no time when you finish eating and you feel like you could eat more?
Children: [Laughter]. Yes, that happens. When, when there is rice and mushed vegetables. [Laughter].
Socio-Dig: When there is rice and mushed vegetables you would like for them to give you more?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Since there are a lot of children, we don’t think too much about that.
Socio-Dig: What if they were to give you a sweet, like a cookie, something in place of a hot meal, if they said they were going to give you something like that, what would you choose?
Children: The hot meal, the hot meal. The hot meal would be better.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Because when you finish eating, that’s when you take dessert.
Socio-Dig: It’s when you finish eating that you take dessert?
Children: Yesss.
Socio-Dig: OK
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Like if we were to finish eating and go into the classroom and they brought us cookies and gave them to us, we would take them. But it’s when you’ve finished eating that you take dessert.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Like before too, before they give us hot food they could give us something salty, we would take it too. We would take it too, like cheese puffs, salt crackers, Guayrina.
Socio-Dig: Cheese puffs, OK. You think that cheese puffs have a lot of vitamins in them?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Cheese puffs do not have vitamins in them because it’s something light.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): It’s something like straw.
Socio-Dig: OK. If they gave you cheese puffs…
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): It would kill a worm no matter what.
Socio-Dig: It would kill a worm no matter what. In the place of hot food, you would accept cheese puffs?
Children: No.
Socio-Dig: No. OK. (laughs) If there was a different food that they added to what they give you, what food would you want them to add?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): We would add cracked wheat.
Socio-Dig: Cracked wheat.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Corn meal would be even better.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): I don’t really like corn meal.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Corn meal gives people strength.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): I don’t really like cracked wheat. I would like it if it was corn meal with greens
Socio-Dig: Corn meal would be better?
[25 minutes]
Children: Yes, corn meal gives strength.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Corn meal with beans in it.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): The food that they should give is cracked wheat, that’s my food.
Socio-Dig: Cracked wheat?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: Each person is going to tell me something that they would agree to add.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): They could add corn meal with beans, or like corn meal with beans and fish sauce. What I like most is corn meal, bean sauce and fish sauce.
Socio-Dig: That’s what you like most? corn meal, bean sauce and fish sauce?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Me, myself, I most like corn meal with beans and especially with fish sauce, because they make that at my home. My father is a fisherman. When he comes from Bomon, he brings fish to us. We like to eat that a lot.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): I most like corn meal with beans and fish sauce. Because when I eat it, it doesn’t do anything bad to me.
Socio-Dig: It doesn’t’ do anything to you?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): No.
Socio-Dig: OK, you would not agree to add millet too, if they added millet?
Children: Yes, they can add millet. They could add it because that’s food of our country.
Socio-Dig: And you, what food would you add?
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): I would say for them to add corn meal and bean sauce.
Socio-Dig: Corn meal with bean sauce, OK.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): I don’t like corn meal. I would prefer they add cracked wheat or millet.
Socio-Dig: [Laughs]
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): I don’t like cracked wheat. I like rice with meat, what they call Little Panic. And I would most like to see them add corn meal with greens.
Socio-Dig: Corn meal with greens. OK. Now let’s talk about juice and milk. I know that they don’t give you juice and milk in school. Between those two things, which would you most agree that they give you.
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Juice.
Socio-Dig: Juice?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Juice is good. In a little bottle it would be better.
Socio-Dig: O, juice.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Something with gas, something with gas isn’t good for us.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Juice is good, yes.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): It’s natural juice, carrot.…
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Well, it’s not natural juice.
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): You don’t know what kind of juice?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): It’s not a natural juice.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): Pineapple juice, carrot, papaya.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): It’s got gas in it. When you open it, you hear it go pssss.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Well, that one doesn’t make any noise.
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Try shaking before you open it.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): No, what thing shakes like that.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): The natural juice that I like is Tampico, lime, like pineapple.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): I like the natural juice most, but when you don’t have a lot of money, get them to buy you a tasty juice or a Tampico to drink.
Socio-Dig: Do they sell cassava with peanut butter around here?
Children: Yes, not so much
Socio-Dig: Not so much. You don’t like cassava with peanut butter?
Children: Yes, a lot.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Bobori.
Socio-Dig: Bobori?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Bobori is when they put sugar in it.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): I like it most.
Socio-Dig: Cassava, peanut butter, and banana, you guys don’t like those?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Banana, I love bananas.
Socio-Dig: OK, if they said that they were going to give you a hot meal and the next day they were going to give you a cassava, peanut butter, and banana, would you agree with that?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Mmm. No, O! Because banana, cassava, and peanut butter…
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): If today they give us a hot meal and tomorrow they give us….
Socio-Dig: A cold meal.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): Cassava with peanut butter. And then the next day they gave you a hot meal that would be good.
Socio-Dig: It would be good?
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): That wouldn’t be a problem.
Socio-Dig: It wouldn’t be a problem for you number 1?
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): No.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): It would not be problem, no.
Socio-Dig: A little while ago you said that it would be a problem. (laughs). And you number 3, would you like that?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Yes, because we eat the food from our country all the time. That’s a food that just arrived. It wouldn’t be a problem for us.
Socio-Dig: OK. What work do you do at home? Do you help your family make gardens? You said your father is a fisherman. Do you ever fish with him?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): No, because where he goes so far way, I can’t be involved.
Socio-Dig: You can’t go?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): No.
Socio-Dig: OK, what do you do at home?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): When I’m at home…
Socio-Dig: Do the people at your house plant crops?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): No, because where I live is by the sea.
Socio-Dig: OK, and you number 3?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): People at my house plant.
Socio-Dig: They plant?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: What do you do? Do you help in the garden?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Yes, I help my father. For example, I weed when he plants corn.
Socio-Dig: You weed?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Yes, sometimes, even when it’s not me who digs the holes to plant, I put the corn in the dirt and cover it with my foot. I do that.
Socio-Dig: You do that?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: OK, number 5.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): My grandmother cultivates. My mother doesn’t make a garden. My grandmother makes a garden. A big one. They put up a fence. There’s a little child at my house who likes to mess with the fence. They must make it so he can’t pull it up. But the fence isn’t so high … Like when they are going to tie goats. But when they made the garden I didn’t do any work in it.
[30 minutes]
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): When they cultivate, I don’t do anything except I put beans in the thing… I put beans in the thing. That’s all I do. I do not weed. I did not do anything.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): In cleaning the garden, I didn’t do anything.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): I help my parents plant. I do not weed. I help them dig holes. I cover the holes with dirt. I do not weed. When it’s time to harvest, I help them.
Socio-Dig: You help your mother or your father?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): My aunt. My mother’s sister.
Socio-Dig: OK. And you number 1?
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): I don’t go help.
Socio-Dig: You don’t go. What work do you do at your house? When you are at your house, what do you do?
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): I clean the floor, do housework.
Socio-Dig: Do you make food?
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: What food do you make? (laughs).
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): What do you most like to make? (laughs)
Socio-Dig: You two are good friends? You two are friends?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: What would do you do at home number 7?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): I sweep. I clean the floor. I work in the house. I was dishes. Sometimes, if I’m not too busy, I make food. I work. I go to the water when we have none. I work. But, as long as I don’t yet know my lessons, I don’t work.
Socio-Dig: You make food?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: What food do you most like to make?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Rice and beans, or bean sauce and mushed vegetables. It’s not food that I really like to make.
Socio-Dig: It’s not food that really like to make. And you number 5?
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): I get up in the morning and make the beds. I clean the floors. I sweep. I wash dishes.
Socio-Dig: That’s it?
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): I make food for the baby
Socio-Dig: You make food for the baby?
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): Yes
Socio-Dig: OK.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): Yes. Sometimes I make soup for him. Sometimes I make spaghetti.
Socio-Dig: And you number 4?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): I most like to make food like rice, or corn meal with bean sauce and fish sauce.
Socio-Dig: You? [laughs]
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Yes, I make food all the time.
Socio-Dig: Really?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: You make food for yourself or you make food for everyone in the house.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): For everyone in the house.
Socio-Dig: Umm.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): That’s right. Sometimes my stepmother is not there. My father doesn’t ask anyone else to make food in the house. It’s on me.
Socio-Dig: You’re the biggest?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): No, yes, I’m the biggest. Like, it’s not me… Among those who are living with my father, I’m the biggest. But I have a big sister, after that I have another big sister… A big brother too. There he is, over there.
Socio-Dig: But in your father’s house, you’re the oldest child, OK.
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Me, what do I do? Like, sometimes I go look for firewood in the afternoon. I go to get water and to play. Like water to wash the dishes. I’m the one who does it. I’m the one who gets the water to wash dishes.
Socio-Dig: What time during the day do you feel most hungry?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): About 1 o’clock.
Socio-Dig: About 1 o’clock is when you most feel hungry? That’s when you have school or when you do not have school?
Children: Not when we have school. School always let’s out about noon. At 1 o’clock there is no school.
Socio-Dig: There’s no school?
Children: 1 o’clock in the afternoon is when we leave.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): There are times that my parents don’t have anything to give us. I just get up…I just get up and go anyway [laughs]
Socio-Dig: Let him speak.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): I can get up at times like that and go the whole day without eating. I can even end up going to bed like that. I’m tough.
Socio-Dig: Really?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: OK, but for example, what time during the day do you feel the hungriest?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Around noon.
Socio-Dig: Around noon?
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: OK. And you number 5?
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): Me, I feel hungry around noon. I’m already in school and I don’t yet know the thing. But around 1 or 2 o’clock I start feeling hungry. I tell my mother that I’m hungry. She says. “oh, well, you ate at school. I don’t have anything to give you. Now you’ve come to pester me.” I just put up with it, go sit on the porch and study.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): When I don’t have school on Saturday and I’m washing clothes, I get to feeling hungry around 4 o’clock. I go play football. When I’m done playing football….
[35 minutes]
Socio-Dig: You play football too?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: OK. And you number 1. At what time during the day do you feel that you’re the hungriest?
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): At 2 o’clock.
Socio-Dig: At 2 o’clock. Does the canteen help you guys study more?
Children: Yes, yes.
Socio-Dig: It make us do better in school?
Children: Yes, yes.
Socio-Dig: Really?
Children: Yes, yes.
Socio-Dig: Why?
Children: Because it helps us. When we eat, when our stomachs are full we don’t get discouraged. We more…
Socio-Dig: You work more?
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Yes.
Socio-Dig: OK, do you think the canteen should stay?
Children: Yesss!
Socio-Dig: If they were to say that they were going to take the canteen away, what would you do?
Children: That would bother us a lot. That would discourage us a lot.
Socio-Dig: It would discourage you. OK. Each person can say something.
#3 (Male; 13 years-old; 5the grade): Because it would discourage us, because at about 11 o’clock you see that before you get out of school you’re going to eat. Sometimes our parents don’t have money to give us. We go to the canteen, we eat, we’re satisfied. When we get home, we aren’t so worried about food because we’ve already eaten. But if they were to take the canteen away, it would bother us a lot.
Socio-Dig: It would bother you a lot, OK.
#4 (Male; 13 years-old; 4th grade): Like, sometimes food is useful because when it’s about 11 o’clock we make food. Because food makes us study a lot, makes us understand what the professor is saying. Sometimes when they had not yet made the canteen we were hungry, the professor would be working on the chalk board, we couldn’t even follow him, we got discouraged.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): If they were to take away the canteen it would discourage me a lot. And it’s not just me that it would bother. It would bother all the children. But there are times when they make food, when I eat fired dough, I don’t worry about food. I go get it, I get it and eat I, but it’s not really that I would even eat it.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#5: (Female; 10 years-old; 5the grade): And if it was stew that I took, sometimes I would get it and eat the tubers without taking the bean sauce.
Socio-Dig: OK. And you?
#7 (Female; 16 years-old; 6th grade): If they would take away the school canteen it would be like a terrible thing they did to us. It’s not only us, but also the parents because it helps them a great, great, great deal. When our parents have the means to give us 5 goud, they know that we’re going to eat something at school no matter what. That’s all I have to say.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#1 (Female; 11 years-old; 5th grade): If they were to take the canteen away, it would not be good for my parents.
Socio-Dig: OK. Children, I say thank you. I would like to take a photo with you. Can we do that?
Children: Yes!
[38 minutes]
Focus Group #12: Market Women/Traders (Ti Rivye)
Date of focus group : 07/28/17
Date of transcription : 08/25/17
Participants list.
#1: female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader
#5: female: 8 children: middle school; Trader
#4: female; 67 years old; No education; Trader
#6: female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader
#3: female; 5 children; Education unknown; Trader
FOKIS GWOUP
Socio-Dig: OK good morning everyone, good afternoon.
Public: Good morning, good afternoon
Socio-Dig: Eh my name is Almathe, we are now doing an evaluation on the School Canteen program in this area. We have come to this area many times before. We talked to different people but this time we would like to have a little talk specifically with Madan Sara. I hope that everyone present in this gathering are Madan Sara. When I met with the teachers I explained that our wish was to meet with the Machan Sara.
Each person present has a number in hand to identity themself. For example, this lady has number 4, another one 5, another 3, this person 6, another 2, and this other person 1. So, every time I ask a question, and someone wants to answer, she should tell me her number. The person can introduce herself by giving her name, her number and what is her expertise in commerce.
Public: Yes, yes
#4 (female; 67 years old; No education; Trader): My name is “#4”. We do all type of work, we just work. Nowadays when we work the land, the land does not produce anything, do you understand me? It does not give anything. You cannot find anything. Anytime, any day, any week I would say that you’re wasting your time. When natural catastrophe occurs all your crops go to the sea, you don’t even see the road. The water took away the remaining land taking it to the sea leaving only the skeleton (the bones).
Socio-Dig: OK thank you number 1.
#1 (female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader): yes.
Socio-Dig: Hum what do you do, who are you?
#1 (female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader): I do a little trade here and there, barely managing.
Socio-Dig: Hum, hum, OK ma’am
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): I am “#5”. I like to do trade quite a lot. However, I don’t have the money to do it. At times, I would sit at home. Sometimes I would load a very big sack on my head and would head to Port-au-Prince looking for opportunity for my children. Now there is no business. Since the last hurricane, there is no business, and I love to trade.
Socio-Dig: OK thanks.
#3 (female; 5 children; Education unknown; Trader): I like to do my little trade a lot. Now that I am getting older, the activities I used to do I can no longer do them. Meaning I’m now barely living. If you have it, you will be enthusiastic. If you have something in your hands you will be enthusiastic. If you don’t have anything, you just have to sit. As a matter of fact, not too long ago we had some activities, the last bad weather, it did not leave anything for us to survive.
Socio-Dig: OK. Thank you. And you?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): I am a trader of cosmetics. I sell imported staples and sometimes, when there is no hurricane, when we can find something in the garden, we load up our donkeys and head to the market. But now as I told you earlier we must start over, that is the situation everyone is in at this time. On occasion, when our trade had crashed, we would sell our little goat. Or our little pig, but now it has a sickness called “broken hip”, this is for the pig. It will kill them. The goats, at times it would be some type of diarrhea that would take them away. But now it is not some type of the diarrhea that takes them. Not diarrhea. What was this Hurricane called? It is the hurricane that really broke us.
Socio-Dig: OK thanks. There is a participant who said: October 3rd.
#3 (female; 5 children; Education unknown; Trader): Yes, October 3rd really broke us.[8] We are now starting over again and then see if we can’t make five 5 cents.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): Well that October 3rd, God saved only our lives. Our houses were destroyed, chaos.
Socio-Dig: Someone said: we have not seen such devastation What type of crops do you have around here? What are you planting the most? Anyone can answer the question.
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Nowadays the land does not produce anything.
Socio-Dig: OK I understand that the land does not produce, but do you have any crop that is year-round?
Public: Beans, beans.
#3 (female; 5 children; Education unknown; Trader): The beans, even if it is lost, even if I lose mine, or if you can save yours, all can barely do a little something.
A participant says: We planted in October for December. In December, if you do not die and it is not lost, you can harvest it. In January you can have more.
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): January, even though not everyone will freely admit, it will give 3 harvests for the year.
Public: Not everyone. You must plant three times?
Socio-Dig: Do you also harvest three different times?
Public: Yes, you can harvest it.
Unidentified Participant: You can plant it in January, you can plant it in March or in April.
Unidentified participant: If it’s good, if it’s good. We plant in July, then we plant in October.
Some of the participants are talking simultaneously.
#3 (female; 5 children; Education unknown; Trader): … look you can plant the peas …. Now you wait on the rain, now it grows.
Unidentified Participant: As one would expect, it grows, it grows and then it’s lost.
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Now you have the year we just had, and you do not produce anything at all.
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): We had corn that we have planted. But we lost it all. We cannot even find enough corn to give the kids… As a woman, when you have a little money you are going to manage, you are going to the market, there is always food at the market, always food at the market. When things are good I will buy a nice big plantain.
Socio-Dig: OK. Since all of you here are traders, I would like to ask you what you usually sell and what market do you usually sell your goods at?
#4 (female; 67 years old; No education; Trader): I usually go sell In section 6th. If weather does not destroy the plantains, we take a load to market, we go sell them and make money, we make our little money. Other times it’s Kongo beans we have. If you want, you can let the beans dry. If you’re in need, you can go to the garden, because it belongs to you, you can gather a bin of beans and go and sell, make some money! After that, you can plant yam. if you don’t get anything, if the weather destroys everything, you can plant a bucket of malanga. Sometimes you’ll get a sack of malanga and you go sell it. After that there is nothing else. You’re just surviving. The last thing for you to do is with the money…. You put your head in your hand like a little Jesus, just staring off
Public: [laugher] Tough times.
#4 (female; 67 years old; No education; Trader): It is true.
Socio-Dig: And you number 1, what do you sell and where?
#1 (female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader): I sell at Misot. I used to go to Port-au-Prince but now I am old. I don’t take the bus to go sell in Port-au-Prince any longer.
Socio-Dig: When you go to Misot, you are selling to people who are going to sell in Port-au-Prince?
#1 (female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader): Yes.
Socio-Dig: What do you usually sell?
#1 (female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader): I sell the products of my garden that I work on. Whatever I cultivate in the garden, I take to the market. Products such as beans. If I have plantains in the garden, I go and sell them. Whatever I have in the garden, I will go and sell.
Socio-Dig: You sell wholesale?
#1 (female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader): Yes, I sell wholesale to other traders who will resell.
Socio-Dig: Wholesale, as by “mammit” or sack?[9]
#1 (female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader): By mammit. You only sell by mammit? The green beans you sell by mammit. The green beans you sell by lot for resellers to sell in Port-au-Prince.
Socio-Dig: OK do you sell yams also?
#1 (female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader): Whatever I have, I will sell.
Socio-Dig: How much money can sell a lot of yam for?
#1 (female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader): No. I don’t usually have lot of yam because I come from Misot.
A participant says: People in the high lands have yams.
#1 (female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader): Us here in the lowlands, it’s only a small white yam we have. Only a few sacks of yams we take along for sale.
Socio-Dig: So, you sell more beans?
#1 (female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader): Like butter beans, or normal beans, I go to weigh them, and I sell them by mammit. Dry like that.
Socio-Dig: For how much, more or less, do you sell a mammit?
#1 (female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader): Ah, according to the price it is sold. There are days when sell I sell for 12, you sell at 10. Depends on the price it is selling at. The price it is selling at and the price you sell it at too.
Socio-Dig: Let me ask you, where do you sell?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Sometimes I go buy in Misot. I go and sell things from the garden. Sometimes I go to Port-au-Prince. I buy in Misot and sell in Port-au-Prince.
Socio-Dig: Hmm. What do you buy in Misot and sell in Port-au-Prince?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Sometimes I buy yams. Whatever you find, you take. I buy a small lot of Malanga [other inaudible conversation in the background]
Socio-Dig: Do you buy by the sack?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): I buy by lot. A lot it is 2 or 3 pieces together, that’s what we consider a lot.
Participants: [Many speaking together- no clear conversation] A big lot they put on the ground and you must give an offer, you give them a price. Carrots are bought by the sack.
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): When it is a sack you buy, a sack of carrots, when you get there, you must work it well, so you do not lose the investment.
Socio-Dig: Where in Port-Au-Prince do you usually sell?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): I used to go to Carrefour to sell.
Socio-Dig: Carrefour? OK. When you get there, do you sell them by lot?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): I sell by lot. Sometimes I sell wholesale.
Public: [laugher]
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): I sold by lot, I sold wholesale.
Socio-Dig: How many days do you spend when you go to Port-au-Prince to sell?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): I usually do not stay long… 2 to 3 days. If you go on a Monday, you return on Wednesday.
Socio-Dig: Ahh that means you sell to resellers?
Participants: Yes, you sell to resellers.
Socio-Dig: OK. It not like if you to go sit in the market place, you don’t sell to individuals for personal use.
Public: No, you sit in the warehouse. There is no place. You pay for a space. You sit there, and you divide your produce into lot, you sell with a big market woman who is going to divide it into smaller lot, but you must pay her, yes. A lot of other people are going to participate in selling it (laughs). That’s how it is, yes.
Socio-Dig: These resellers, do you also sell to them by lot?
Public: by lot.
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): By lot, by lot depending on the size it can be sold for, 60, 80, 100 per lot, according to what you brought.
Public: Many, many.
Unidentified Participant: Many, they in turn must sell the product for a profit.
Unidentified Participant: You sell all your load. If you brought, it they will nickel and dime you, haggle you… they will buy it.
Unidentified Participant: At times, you hurry home as well, you hurry home. My children don’t want me to use the bus for transport, so I hurry home.
Socio-Dig: How much can you buy a portion of yams for in Misot? How much profit will you do if you were to sell it in Port-au-Prince?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Oh, you can buy a lot of yams for up to 2,500 goud. You can buy a lot of yam and when you get there to unload it you can resell it for 2000 or 2500 goud.
Unidentified Participant: For you and the transport, it is for the transport you are working.
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): I do it on each. I do, at times you don’t even earn the money to pay for what you bought. It is in your own money you have drawn to pay for transportation.
Socio-Dig: Let us give number 3 a chance to talk. I see her daydreaming [laugh].
Public: [laugh]
Socio-Dig: It can be the heat that makes you that way?
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): No, it is cool over there, problem, problem.
Socio-Dig: Good, the question is the same, what do you sell and where do you sell?
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): Canape-vert.
Socio-Dig: Huh, what do you sell in Canape-Vert?
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): I could carry five sacks of charcoal [laughs]. I might buy some small passion fruit if they’re in season. When it’s season, I ripen bananas. I get there, the comptroller gives it to traders who in turn give them to the resellers. I don’t carry merchandise that for retail. What I am buying are bananas for around 5,000 goud worth. I buy 5,000 goud of bananas. Now, once they ripen, I will pay for transportation to go to Port-au-Prince with them. Now the retailer comes and takes them form you, you count and give to the reseller to sell them by the piece.
[participant says simultaneously: so, they would go and resale individually].
Socio-Dig: How do you carry these bananas?
Public: In a basket, in a basket.
Socio-Dig: How big might the basket be?
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): You can buy a small basket for 75 goud. It is not tall, it is not made tall.
Public: [laugher]
Socio-Dig: I am shocked because I have seen the type of basket Jacmel has!
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): No, it is not the basket from Jacmel
[Many people are talking simultaneously]
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): This is a small basket, it is made of bamboo.
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): That is the small basket. They used to carry the basket for you for 15 dola (75 goud). Up, up, up it went up, 100 goud. Up, up, up, it went up 25 dola (125 goud). 25 dola. 25 dola, 125 goud per 25 dola for loading of each basket, put it on top of the truck. You’ll pay the worker 25 goud for each basket. Each basket must be paid. If you have 4 baskets of bananas, 100 goud. If you have 6 baskets, 30 dola (150 goud). Upon arrival the same way it was loaded in Misot on the truck, you must pay to offload in Port-au-Prince. This will cost you about 60 dola (300 goud). On arrival, if you’re lucky and the bananas are not squashed and you are at a total lost…
Public: [laugher]
Unidentified participant: Now they don’t even want to load up for 50 goud.
[Someone speaking inaudibly]
Socio-Dig: OK. How about number 6?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): I’m not accustomed to to taking the bus for this type of trade. My trade is cosmetic products. It’s sandals, notebooks during school year, I would sell these types of products. And, I buy and sell sacks of sugar, rice, things, I sell oil, little things to eat. After that, whenever I have garden stuff such as like when I have yams, the yams we don’t want to go to waste. We load up our donkeys and go to sell them. Plantains. If the Hurricane did not occur, we used to have them. We could be taking 2 loaded animals to the market. Now if I can find a small one to buy other little things. But now I usually don’t go sell retail on top of the bus.
Socio-Dig: Where do you go to buy your cosmetic products?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Sometimes I would buy in Port-au-Prince, I can sometimes buy in Fond Des Negres.
Socio-Dig: You said you buy rice by the sack, do you sell retail?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Yes, I sell retail, I sell by mammit, there is something called gode or a glass
Socio-Dig: Hm- I know the difference between gode and glass. Do you purchase on credit from people so that you can go and resell?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): No. I mean if someone is accustomed to buying from you, there may be a day the person can’t pay for all of it and so you let them owe you the balance. But I do not like it because even if you want to do it, there are big traders who may want to sell your credit because the big traders are also buying on credit. You may take the credit and you go sell on credit, but you give your good friend some credit and you know sometimes, it’s not all of us who pay. There are people who take a little something and she makes a sacrifice and pays. But when you trade on credit, it’s going to be a problem for you.
Socio-Dig: Have you borrowed money from any institution, like FONKOZE?
[Many participants are talking inaudibly]
Unidentified Participant: You shouldn’t say FONKOZE. We are in SENKAMI. We can go to SENKAMI anytime.
Socio-Dig: Are you a member?
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): Because when you borrow and pay back, that is a good thing.
Participant says: I have good credit, I have good credit.
Socio-Dig: What is the most amount of money you can borrow?
[Many participants talking simultaneously]
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): We usually don’t take too much.
Public: laughter
Socio-Dig: Well, I don’t know, it may not be a lot. But I would like to know the most you can borrow and at what rate it would be?
#1 (female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader): We can take 2,000; like 1,000; 1,500, you can go higher but I don’t choose to.
Socio-Dig: If you would want to go bigger how much they would lend you? If I would want to do more. I can take 4,000 to 5,000, if I would want to rise the stake.
Public: We are all in the same position.
Unidentified participant: Yes, just one word.
Socio-Dig: Are you also in the credit program ma’am?
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): Heeeyyyy, I would do it, but I don’t know how to do it.
Socio-Dig: The lady who usually does it cannot show you how to do it?
#1 (female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader): No, no I don’t go to FONKOZE. Like now other people lend me money.
[Many Participants doing small talk simultaneously]
Socio-Dig: The people who loan to you are family or friends?
#1 (female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader): Friends.
[Many Participants talking at the same time with # 1]
[While the conversation continues #6 says: Godmother… let me talk…_]
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): What I mean, like me, if I am struggling with my limited means, I see that she already has a few 1,000 goud to manage. But while I don’t go on the bus, I might let her borrow 1,500, 2,000 goud to add to her 1,000 goud, she goes and hustles and when she returns she will give me mine back. That’s the way it is.
Socio-Dig: She doesn’t not have to give it back to you with interest.
Participants: No
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): No. We have some people giving it with interest. Those people are called “Eskont.” But the way we live, we do not have people who eskont.
[several people talking at simultaneously]
#1 (female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader): You may have a place you usually buy your product. Like I buy rice, sugar cooking oil, soap and so on. My money may not be enough if I owe on it and I don’t borrow. Because if I borrow it is not more for me, because when I am done I return the credit I borrowed, it is not good for me. Like when I go to buy, I always must have other money to buy with. That’s the reason I don’t ever go and borrow money [she says the rest at a lower tone].
Socio-Dig: Does your husband do gardens as well?
Public: Yes
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Yes, they are the ones sowing the land for us.
Public: Laughter
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Yes, those men with a mere 50 goud they have, they buy land [many voice talking], buying buildings now. Hm, hmm, in the past, people, anytime they touched land, like the group leader sometimes used to encourage the group to do more [work], ‘let us do one more.’ Nowadays people look, you see the workers arrive and telephone in hand aah they are still there. They stay from six to ten in the morning and they would not do anything else. Some may arrive at the site and there is not a place to plant a mammit of beans. [a participant is talking at the same time] You can find around six workers … or if they work they will be well rewarded.
Socio-Dig: Do your husbands ever go to the market to sell?
Public: No
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): No, they don’t go. Sometimes if they have some cows, they go sell or if they need to buy a cow. If they want to go buy a cow, they go to the market. But we are the ones, when there are some plantains, we go and sell them. If the market day was profitable, we take 50 goud and add it to our existing cash to pay our debt. But at times it is not enough to buy food for the household.
Socio-Dig: OK
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Nowadays it is hard to make any money because soap is selling for 30 goud in the market, a small bottle of cooking oil 60 goud, a mammit of sugar 200 goud, a mammit rice 150 goud in the market. Nowadays, you need a good amount of money to run your errands. For me to buy a small fish head. Things are lost. when you finish you must find enough to take home [some participant laughs]. Thank you.
Socio-Dig: Let us do a small comparison between women and men. Do you process some products such as mango, like you take the mango and turn it into something else, things like that?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Well, we don’t really eat mango in this area. We don’t have the means for that. We have heard of processing, but we don’t know how to do it.
Socio-Dig: What do women do and men not do? For example cooking, planting, and selling at the market?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Transport, cooking.
Socio-Dig: Let us say we plant, harvest, sell etcetera. What is that we do that men cannot do?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Well, we do it all. I’m talking to you now, a father died leaving me with 6 children. It’s me who makes the garden. With the help of God, I work hard with my own arms. I toil in the ground. I handle a hoe, I handle a machete to make a garden and raise my children. I raised all my children and I paid for their educations.
Socio-Dig: OK, agreed! Do men go and sell at the market?
Unidentified Participant: No, men could go, but where I live, we don’t have that.
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Men at times might take a woman to market with pack animals. They get them through difficult passages. When they reach the market, they drop the women and head back home.
Unidentified Participant: Men in this little neighborhood, we can say they don’t go. There are men who go to the market.
Socio-Dig: You don’t see it as a big deal for a man flanked by his wife to go sell at the market?
Public: No, No
Unidentified participant: We don’t have that. But sometimes it’s the man who goes and tries to sell at the market.
Unidentified participant: I’ve watched men selling for themselves alone. Like a man yesterday who stood by me. A participant asked, ‘what are you selling there, a load of mangos? … a load of mangos.
[Many participants talking about water. A man offers water to Almathe. Almathe replies, ‘We don’t need the water now, you can leave it for now. And the continue to talk complaining about the water being too cold.]
Socio-Dig: Does everyone here have children in a school with the school feeding program?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): I do.
Socio-Dig: How many children do you have in the school with the program number Six?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): This girl is in the program. I have two, I have three. Three, two are in the Vizyon Kretyèn. After that, I have another one in the Presbitary, the priest’s school.
Socio-Dig: OK.
Unidentified Participant: I have two children in the program. After that I no longer have any small children.
Unidentified participant: My grandchildren are in it.
Public: Us, it is our grandchildren who are in it.
Unidentified participant: I have two grandchildren in the program.
[Many participants speaking at the same time in a low tone]
Socio-Dig: Do you understand the program? What have you heard? How do you understand it?
Unidentified participant: About the program? I have not heard anything
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): BND has given training for committees, how to manage the food. Parents are supposed to participate. They charge 25 goud per week, that means 5 goud per day. They do not take the money each day…. If a person has the money, they give 100 goud for the month. If the child gives the money you feed them, if they don’t pay, you feed them. That means that the parents must assume the responsibility for paying the food because it’s with the that parents give that they cook the food. Because BND gives the food, but there are some things they don’t give. That means that the little bit they collect, sometimes they give it to the people who cook the food, so they can buy a little soap to wash their clothes, because they don’t pay them.
Socio-Dig: OK. In summary, this is what the program is about. One the most interesting aspects is to provide local food to the children. Food that’s produced in Haiti. What I’m going to say is that it could be an opportunity especially for market women. That is why it is specifically with market women that I have asked to speak, people experienced in trading. Let’s say that is something that helps us very much, because they may not be your children, but they are your grand children who are attending the school in the program. It’s good for you because you don’t have to cook for them.
Public [Some participants are talking together with the monitor] “Yes, we do not have cook for the children. Yes, if we give them bread and coffee they can wait for the food at school.
Socio-Dig: So, it is a great help to you. Now, if they would tell you that the food they are giving the kids is too expensive and they would like to give them something else that costs less money at the time of the Canteen, what would you, as women, propose?
Unidentified participant: Even if we would know something, there are some things that they wouldn’t be able to buy in the community.
#1 (female; 69 years old; 6 children; No education; Trader): Well, when they bring the food we don’t know what quantity they bring. We don’t know what advice we would give them. You could tell them to buy locally, but we don’t know what quantity they would want.
Unidentified Participant: As soon as the you have the money, you can buy the items. If they give you something to buy for them, they might pay 10 goud, you, you bargain, and you get it for 8 goud. Even 8 goud, they can afford to give you in the market.
Socio-Dig: Let’s take an example of beans they give to the children around here.
A participant says: yes, we give beans around here. but I don’t believe they are buying it from us.
Public: No, they don’t buy from us.
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Once, I, I had an agronomist come by to see my beans. They had just started to flower, when Mr. Pharrel came to see me. He said, when the beans are ready to let him know. I was to let him so that he could buy them from me. But I never was in touch with him again. That means that we don’t know how they buy, if they buy at a good price, do they buy at a better price? That means we don’t know in this sense. Can we give them advice? Can we not give them advice?
Unidentified participant: Yes, we can give advice!
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): The advice that I can give them now in this area is that a mammit of beans is selling for 300 goud. But there are people who will not give it for 300 goud. In the market nowadays, it is going for 300 goud
Unidentified participant: 300 goud it is at the market
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): That means that they would make the difference, they will buy it themselves if they buy at 300 goud. If they buy at 325 that’s when I can give advice and say, ‘well, beans around here can be bought for 300 goud.’ Now, that 25 goud would be in the interest of both us parents and the people doing the buying. They would buy more. If they used to buy, for example, rice, since around here we don’t produce rice, we must buy it, and we buy Haitian rice too. If they were accustomed to buying at 25 goud wherever it is they usually buy, we sell it around here for 20 goud, then I would say, buy it here. But we don’t know how they buy. Because of that, we don’t know. We don’t know what we’re going to say.
Unidentified: We only see, we don’t know.
Socio-Dig: You see, you don’t know. That’s why we’ve come to speak with you today, to help you understand, and to get some ideas from you too. We would like that you help us find some ideas. Like we would say to you that the food they make now costs too much. They would like to get a better price. What would you propose that would be a better price for local produce, that’s the question?
Unidentified participant: Something local? They could give them sweet potatoes,
Unidentified participants: They already give that.
Unidentified participant: They give sweet potatoes, carrots, eggplant, chayote, cabbage, they give all those things.
Socio-Dig: OK. They give all these things in the Canteen Program. You have committees as well?
Unidentified participants: We don’t have that stuff here, but you will find them up higher …. in the Misot market.
Unidentified participant: Something else, and it’s a good thing too, corn meal. Corn meal is good for children, they could cook corn meal and give it to the children…Oh, they give the same food every day. And you would think that they would give a different food each day.
Another unidentified participant: They should give a different food each day.
Earlier unidentified participant continues: You don’t give them corn all the time, they must change it. You see what I’m saying to you, it’s a good food, it gives the children strength.
Another participant says: They need to have stew on the menu.
Participant first said: They never have stew.
Socio-Dig: OK let me ask this question in another way. If it was you who was in charge of the program, how would you manage it? Anybody can answer.
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): This is a trap I see you setting for us, if we were managing the program? [laughs]
Socio-Dig: Yes, how would you manage it to spend less money?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Well it is how I told you if you buy 15 goud and I find it at 10 goud then I buy it …… I start to manage it, I have an edge. But when I buy at 12 and I find places giving me 10 to 8, now I find the profit. But I tell you very clearly, we don’t know the price, how they buy it, if they buy high or low. It means you look and look, every Monday afternoon they bring them food in the school.
Unidentified Participant: Yes, they bring rice, beans….
Socio-Dig: How much do you think it costs the program to provide each of these children with a plate of food?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): How much it can cost a day, the program itself, how much does it cost them?
Socio-Dig: Yes, daily how much money do you think it costs the program to feed each of these children a plate of food?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Well, since they are with their parents, they are asking for 5 goud. If the school has, for example, 100 kids, it means it cost the parents 500 goud.
Socio-Dig: What about the program, the organization itself, how much you think it costs them?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): For the program now, it will cost X
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Yes. OK let us define the X it will cost. Consider you are this organization. If you were to manage it how much do you think it will cost you to provide a plate for each kid?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): For me to spend, I would need to know the program’s allocated budget.
Socio-Dig: Do you cook? Are you a good cook or a bad cook?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Yes, I cook for myself [and family], but this this is for the program. I don’t know the amount in its budget.
Socio-Dig: You don’t even have to think about the program. Let us say you were the one doing it. How much money do you think you would need to feed each kid Since you are always buying wholesale [you should know].
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Well, since it is not something you are going to cook for only one child, for you to say today I chose to spend 100 goud for the child. At the lowest, let us consider the food for cooking oil, beans, all ingredients for each kid say they can eat 50 goud worth for the day in …… 5 goud from the parents, in my estimate…
Socio-Dig: According to you?
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Yes, and you Madame?
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): The same thing… 50 goud
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): 50 goud for a child, in my opinion.
Socio-Dig: Do you think it would be a problem if they give the children something sweet to eat in the morning?
Unidentified Participant: Sweet food? Sweet food is not too good for the children. They should not give it to them every day. They can’t give it to them every day. But at times they can give it to them, The sweet food will not affect them, They can give it to them in the morning.
Socio-Dig: If they were to serve sweet today and hot / salt tomorrow, would that be a problem?
[Many participants talking]
Unidentified participant: No, it is not a problem it would not be a problem, The children are accustomed to eat sweet food at their homes. They are given porridge at home.
Socio-Dig: I don’t know if you have a question you would like to ask me. I feel that I am through with my questions.
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Me, for myself, I feel that WFP sent you to pose a lot of questions, I am sure that WFP sends you many questions regarding us the traders, what are doing or not doing. Now what is WFP going to with all the questions it sent us to answer. [laughs]. I feel WFP is digging worms in our belly, on our trade, and now I want to know what WFP has in mind?
Socio-Dig: [Laughs] WFP is exploring the possibility of the canteen costing less money, because it costs them a lot of money to keep the school canteen program in schools. The program should not be only in the Nippes department, all the children in the country should be able to benefit from this program. But because of insufficient funding they cannot expand it. But if we could find the means for the Nippes program to cost less money, we could continue in other areas until all schools in the country have it. We talk with you as vendors because you know more about where we can find a cheaper product. And we should buy in an area and what we suppose to buy.
A participant says: Yes, I understand.
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): Cost of living is high, everything is expensive
Another participant says: Things are really more expensive in the countryside, but when you buy it in the countryside versus the market, it is not the same.
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): It would never be the same. Money matters, money in your hands, go to the market.
Unidentified participant: I am going in front of a merchant and ask for price, if she does not give it to me at my price I will just return to my chair. When I return to my chair…. I will try another merchant. You must have experience to buy in the market, you must buy well.
Socio-Dig: OK
Participant continues: When you don’t know the price for something, a person should not tell you a product is 10 goud and you, you just hand her the 10 goud. You shouldn’t give it to her. You give her 7 goud. You can give her 6 goud ? [Laughs]
Unidentified participant: You must haggle.
Earlier participant continues: You must haggle.
Socio-Dig: Is there an association of women around here, something like that?
Public: Yes.
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): They have become a bit tough, they are discouraged not finding the proper support. Perhaps they could get support in the sense of women having a place where they can borrow a little money, like they were saying, rather than going to take a high interest loan at a big bank.
[Many participants say yes]
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): Me, in that sense, I’ve never seen WFP talking. I would think that even if it wasn’t’ today, maybe not even tomorrow, but I would think it has a vision for people who are having to take high interest loans at SENKAMI or FONKOZE.
Socio-Dig: [laughs] That is why you thought I came? I didn’t come for that. But it’s not impossible that one day they can put that in the program. But for now, the most important thing for WFP is that all schoolchildren can get school meals, and how this program can cost less so that they can feed more children.
#6 (female; 3rd grade; Education unknown; Trader): We would hope that WFP make the changes for the food to cost less and to be able to support the traders, that is what they would like to do, support the traders. Because there are occasions when they can call the trader for a loan. There are those people who are afraid to borrow from bank other association pushing the trader to sign, come on, come on come on. That means if WFP is World Food Program, if it would give the trader support too, I believe me that would be… another beautiful thing. Because it is the children of the trader, their family who are eating the same products.
[many participants saying yes]
Socio-Dig: … We have a little snack for you. I know I made you talk a lot.
#5 (female: 8 children: middle school; Trader): …it deserves a laugh.
Focus Group #13: All Male Farmers (Tamarin)
Date of focus group : 9/07/17
Date of transcription: 23/07/17-4/08/17
List of patisipants
#1: Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer
#3: Male; 50 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Fisherman, Farmer
#4: Male; 40 years of age; 5 Children; 8th grade; Farmer
#5: Male; 37 years of age; 4 Children; No school; Farmer
#6: Male; 68 years of age; unknown number of Children; Farmer; No school
#7: Male; 40 years of age; unknown number Children; 4th grade; Farmer
#8: Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer
Socio-Dig: Hello…… we will take your contact information at the end of the focus group…. When you pose a question, say your number please so that we can know who is talking. To begin, we will ask you what kind of garden you make.
#4 (Male; 40 years of age; 5 Children; 8th grade; Farmer): Me, I’m number 4. We plant corn, millet, manioc, plantains, sweet potatoes, several other things too. But… a long time ago when we planted, we got a good harvest. But now, when we plant, we almost don’t get nothing, especially regarding millet. When we used to plant millet we got a harvest. Even our animals, it was good for our animals too. But now, we almost lost the sight of millet. Because when we plant it there is something they let loose on it, like a an oil that kills it. We don’t get anything, not even for the livestock, because the oil makes it turn black. It gels. Even the livestock won’t eat it anymore. And the beans, it’s the same thing. Sometimes we find a little harvest but with a great deal of effort. Because the land now, it’s covered with trees and brush, we have to fight to get a little harvest. Because when you work, you understand, it’s us who have to work with our own hands. We don’t find anyone to work for us. They have plows and oxen to turn the soil in other places. But us, even for workers, we can’t find them around here.
Socio-Dig: OK, number 6, you were going to say something?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): Since I was raised up, what my parents taught me was to farm. They did not even put me in school. Farming is what’s supported me right up to the old man I am now. But now I’ve become weak at it. What made me become weak, my body is discouraged. I break my neck working. And me, I don’t see why I work so hard. We don’t have irrigation. The rain doesn’t fall. And on top of everything else, what supported us was planting millet. It would be right now that we started getting the land ready to plant millet. And we would have some millet stashed away. Used to be that when you felt you had a problem, you would take a few mamit out of your stash, prepare it, and you go sell it for two cents. You don’t get any now. It’s like you’re working and you don’t see why you’re working. We don’t have any help. It’s only with the little bit of money we have that we do it … [Loud truck goes by] Well, after all, don’t have any help. The little bit we do, it’s wash your hands and then dry them in the dirt. We see things are odd for us nowadays.
Socio-Dig: OK, thank you. And how many times per year do you harvest?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): Well, we can tell you that it’s only one harvest we get each year. We start weeding in January, February, stop in the month of March. If we get rain– because we don’t have irrigation–if we get rain in March we plant in March. But if we do not get rain, we plant when we get rain. The rain might not fall until April, May, it’s when we get it, that’s when we go to planting. When we plant, if God is with us and the rain continues, we can harvest in the month of January. After that, it’s the next January that we have a harvest.
Socio-Dig: OK. Everyone can participate. Let me elaborate on what I’m trying to say for a minute. Do you harvest all the food you plant at the same time? Or does each type of food have it’s time to be harvested?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): Well, like corn. Corn doesn’t have a problem.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): Corn, you can plant corn and at three months you harvest it. Millet, you can plant it in the month of May, June, July. You’re going to harvest it in January. Now, it’s only a single harvest you can get with millet. After that there is a millet they call 14th Century. I hear that millet yields in three months. That millet, you can plant in the month of August, September, November and it’s ready
[5 minutes}
Socio-Dig: OK, you were going to say something?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): Me?
Socio-Dig: Number 5. You weren’t going to say something? I see that you wanted to say something.
#5 (Male; 37 years of age; 4 Children; No school; Farmer): [Laughs] No, well, what Papi said is what I was going to say too. When we work we can’t get anything because it doesn’t rain when we plant produce these days. To plant corn, corn doesn’t get rain, and when it does get rain, it’s already lost. And we can’t find anything to put on it too. After that, people let their livestock loose, we lose everything, we don’t get anything at all.
Socio-Dig: OK.You plant millet. You plant corn, beans, manioc.
Public: Manico, sweet potatoes.
Socio-Dig: Manioc, sweet potatoes, you plant all those things?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): Well, nowadays even manioc stems are almost gone. We can’ find them [to plant].
Socio-Dig: OK. You plant rice? You have rice around here? Number 8.
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Eh, what we plant, we plant rice. We plant rice around here since long ago. My father, who is a farmer too, but he’s deceased now, there was a little land behind there that was a marsh, when the rain fell it held water and he would till it and plant rice in it. They would plant rice every year there. Every year they would get a harvest of rice. When they plant it with millet, the rice is ready…. If they plant it first, it’s already ripe before the millit. There was an animal they call a Sara bird.
Public: Sara bird.
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): The Sara bird eats it. But it’s supposed to be ripe at the same time as the millet.
[everyone is speaking at once].
Socio-Dig: OK. And that land you plant, that land, is it your land? Or is it land you rent?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): We rent it.
Socio-Dig: Yes.
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): We rent it. We take partners to work it. There are some people who have their own land too.
Socio-Dig: To take a land on rent, how much does that cost?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): How much it costs depends on the land. A rental can cost you 1,000 dola (Haitian = 5,000 goud). There’s land that can cost 2,000 dola too. If Zanka has land, that can cost you 1,500 dola, it depends on the land.
Public: Yes, that depends on the price of the land. If the land can produce plantains and other things, it can be expensive.
Socio-Dig: OK. And for seeds. Where do you buy seeds to plant?
#5 (Male; 37 years of age; 4 Children; No school; Farmer): Well, us, we don’t use seeds. Our land is hot land. That means we can’t use seeds.
Socio-Dig: And fertilizer, do you use fertilizer? Yes, I give each person a chance to say something. What number do you have again?
#5 (Male; 37 years of age; 4 Children; No school; Farmer): Number five.
Socio-Dig: Yes, you may speak number five.
#5 (Male; 37 years of age; 4 Children; No school; Farmer): We cannot really use them, no! What causes that? They now say it’s only where it’s cool that you use fertilizer. But us, if we put on fertilizer I don’t know if it can be good, no. If you just put it on, it can burn it. And our soil is hot soil. We don’t use fertilizer.
Socio-Dig: OK. Yes, number 4, you were saying something?
#4 (Male; 40 years of age; 5 Children; 8th grade; Farmer):Yes, ah, we have fertilizer that is good for us, yes. But we don’t have an agronomist who really helps us to do that kind of work. That means it’s something that, it’s by force that that we make it happen. It’s us who force it. We don’t have people to help us understand. They help other people. The fishermen have help. Everyone else, other people have help. But us farmers, we don’t get help. We would do it. But I can tell you that we do not find help, neither economically or technically.
Socio-Dig: Techically. OK.
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Concerning, see, us, we don’t have a State agricultural extension office, an agricultural service where we can get seeds when we need to plant them. It’s us, with our own produce. We take out a little part for us to eat in the home. We take out a little part to sell. We take out a little part to save. When we need to plant, we plant. That’s to say that we would ask, especially the functionaries of WFP, well, I don’t know, I’m not saying for them to do anything, but they could ask on our behalf.
[10 minutes]
Eh, how could we put an agricultural extension office in place, so that when the farmers have a need for seeds, they would know where to go. They would not need to go and walk around the market. It could happen that they go to the market and buy bad seeds. They don’t grow. But if it’s the State that makes an extension service available, that has plants in the program, they’ll give plants that are good, plants that grow. We need that. And we also need an office that can loan us money when we do not have enough resources to work. After that, we go to work and give back a part of our harvest to the bureau. After paying back to the fund, we always take out a part for us to eat. If we work, we have to eat. We have wives, we have children. The household needs to eat. We take out a part to satisfy the bureau, to pay the debt we have there. And one part we eat. Now, we ask the State to take on it’s responsibility, to touch us because we feel isolated in this area. We do not find any assistance. We hear that we have an agronomist, but we’ve never seen one. They sit behind a desk in Port-au-Prince, we never see them. I know that an agonomist should work with the peasants on the land, to say, ‘here is how you plant a plant.’ Because us, we don’t have any training. We don’t know how to plant. It’s true that we’ve found ourselves farming the soil, but we don’t really know how to plant! We don’t really know how to plant a plantain tree! We don’t know how to put a millet seed in the earth? Because when we plant, we plant with our hands. Sometimes there are so many of them that we have to yank some of them up. When they are too many, they can’t grow. But if we had an agronomist who could tell us how many seeds to put in an area, now the plant would develop faster, the same plant would develop better. When we plant corn, we put 4 or 5 seeds in a hole. If we had an agronomist he could tell us, ‘Four is too many. Here is how many you should put.’ But we have no training. We could do everything when planting, but the little harvest we get is only enough for us to make food. We can’t make money.
Socio-Dig: OK. Is there no one else who would like to add anything? What crop can land around here not produce?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): Well, a long time ago when the rain used to fall regularly, whatever you put in the ground the earth produced. But now, the way the rain has become, now the rain doesn’t fall when it’s supposed to fall. We feel like the soil is not good nowadays. Well, me, for me the biggest crop we have now that was good is millet. Well, our millet has been destroyed because the way…. Well, I can tell you why the millet has been destroyed. I see that they detroyed it. Because it’s an oil that falls on the millet. I’ve never seen anything like that. For the last 2 to 3 years we’ve had that problem with the millet, isn’t that right?
Public: Two or three years.
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): For the past 2 or 3 years, you plant millet and a completely black oil falls on it. There are totally white little insects that gel on the millet. And the millet becomes completely black. Even animals won’t eat the leaves and straw. You plant it for the past 2 to 3 years, we see that we can’t do anything until the plant is completely destroyed. That plant is totally lost to us. We don’t succeed with it anymore at all, not at all.
Socio-Dig: When this happens, is it the whole garden that’s a loss, or only a part of it?
Public: The whole garden.
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): In general, the whole garden. Total loss. I’ve done research everywhere to see if I can find some plants. I can’t find them.
Socio-Dig: Yes, there was a scarcity. You know that malta and things like that are made with millet. Beer. There was a time all that became really scarce on the market.
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): It’s a loss for the country, its something…. Since you guys are agronomists, I would like to know if this is something that comes from people or God?
Socio-Dig: I’m not an agronomist, no Papi.
Public: It’s like some kind of epidemic.
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): That’s what I would like to know?
Public: Is it an epidemic? It must be an epidemic.
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): That’s what I would like to know?
Socio-Dig: Well, if it’s everywhere… It’s in the whole territory of Haiti?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): Well, we don’t know about other places…
#5 (Male; 37 years of age; 4 Children; No school; Farmer): And me, I was listening to the news, they said that in the North too, in the North too there is a lot of millet lost, just like you see ours around here. And they say not even animals can eat the leaves and stalks. Animals that eat it die. Well, I don’t know, but for us around here it’s an epidemic. It’s these little white insects you see flying by. You even see them in the street. You see them passing by. And when they land on you they leave this grease on you. This means that when you see them like that, better not go to the garden, the garden you can just leave like it is, it’s useless.
[15 minutes]
Socio-Dig: OK, thank you. We were talking about difficulties in the garden. Now we want to talk about the canteen program. Have you heard them talk about the school canteen being in all departments of Haiti? Do you have children who attend a school where they get fed for free?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Yes, I’ve heard them talk about the school too, and I have children in school who participate in the program.
Socio-Dig: How many children do you have in the program, who are your children?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): I have three children, who are my children, who participate in the program.
Socio-Dig: OK. Number 7, do you have children?
#7 (Male; 40 years of age; unknown number Children; 4th grade; Farmer): No.
Socio-Dig: You don’t have children in the program? OK.
#1 (Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer): I have four children.
Socio-Dig: All four are in the canteen program?
#1 (Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer): Yes
Socio-Dig: OK. And you number 6?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): I don’t have any at all.
Socio-Dig: You don’t have any, not even grandchildren in the program?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): No, I don’t have any.
Public: [Laughs]
Socio-Dig: OK.
[Noise of a motorcycle passing]
#5 (Male; 37 years of age; 4 Children; No school; Farmer): I have four.
Socio-Dig: All four are in the program?
#5 (Male; 37 years of age; 4 Children; No school; Farmer): Yes.
Socio-Dig: OK, and you?
#3 (Male; 50 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Fisherman, Farmer): I have two.
Socio-Dig: You have two. OK. The goal of the canteen is to give children food, local food. According to you, what food do you suppose they could give children that represents food you grow in your garden around here?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): The food they should give children, we have rice, we don’t grow it right here but in the commune. We produce yam and I see they give them too in the canteen. Sweet potato we grow too. And millet too, albeit it’s a little destroyed at the moment, but they used to give millet in the canteen.
Socio-Dig: OK. Thank you. Is there anyone one else who would say something about local food they should give children?
#4 (Male; 40 years of age; 5 Children; 8th grade; Farmer): What they should give is manioc, manioc.
Socio-Dig: Umm.
[Sound of motobike passing]
Socio-Dig: Manioc. OK. I have another question I want to come back to. With respect to gardens, where do you sell produce? When you harvest, where do you sell the produce? Who goes to sell it?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Produce, when they harvest, when we are in the house we have a basket, a person has a wife when he does the garden, what I mean is that it’s the woman who takes the produce and goes to the market with it and sells it.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#4 (Male; 40 years of age; 5 Children; 8th grade; Farmer): Produce, sometimes we already owe it. Because when you don’t have anything to work with you go look for it from someone else who has it, you go get a little money. And like that you don’t even know if you’re going to harvest anything at all because you already borrowed money both for millet and for corn. Whatever you get you almost don’t find anything even for you to eat because you already owe it, you must give them a low price.
Socio-Dig: OK. When you sell, do you sell by the mammit or in bigger units? For example, a market woman comes, she comes to buy everything in bulk from you or your wives go sell it in the market by the mammit?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Usually, even when a buyer comes to buy in bulk we still measure it by mammit. Longtime ago, the elders used to use « Barrel. » They say that 40 mammit makes a barrel. As soon as you get to 40 mammit you say, ‘I made a barrel!’ If it’s corn, you say, ‘I made a barrel of corn.’ If it’s millet, you say, ‘I made a barrel of millet.’ But it’s still measured by the mammit, no matter what.
Socio-Dig: OK, OK, Are you guys in an association?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Yes, we’re part of an association.
Socio-Dig: How does that work?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Well, the association is made up of planters. Because it’s made of up planters, we work in agriculture, that’s what we do. And we have meetings every month so that we can exchange ideas to see how we can change the life of the planters. Even though we can’t do it alone, with regard to what we’re looking for, I hope that WFP comes too because they ask for planters and we are an organization of planters. [With their help] Perhaps tomorrow we can accomplish more.
[20 minutes]
Socio-Dig: OK, when you say that you’re an organization of planters, does that mean you’re registered? Did you go to the mayor’s office and register? You have papers? Or is it just some farmers who get together and help one another and refer to yourselves as an organization?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Well, we are not yet registered. We’re in process. That means we’ve prepared the papers and afterward we’re going to the mayor’s office and after we finish with the mayor’s we’re going to the Ministry of Social Affairs. But we’re preparing, we’re working on it.
Socio-Dig: OK. Do you have another organization that is helping you, that helps you find tools, credit? For example an association. Do they buy your harvests? Do you get together and sell all your crops? Anyone can respond.
#4 (Male; 40 years of age; 5 Children; 8th grade; Farmer): It’s like you say. When we produce, us small farmers, it almost doesn’t help us at all. It’s the big land owner who makes the money, you understand. Because he invested his money in us, we give it to him the way you said there. Do we sell by the mammit or in bulk you asked. Well, it’s the big investor who can sell in bulk because we don’t have time. For us we have 10, 15 mamit to go sell. It’s the big man who can sell in bulk.
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): Everything we used to do, we used to do verbal. It’s only now that we have formed this little organization that we would know how to manage these things. Because it’s this man Mr. Dessalines, who gave us the idea to form a group. We made a group so that we can become bigger together, so that we can organize ourselves.
Socio-Dig: OK. Yes, Mr. Dessalines.
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): It’s like that because I was bothered when I look and saw that in the community…. There is an organization of fishers. There’s another social organizatiion, and I see that planters, I felt that it’s them who work to give us food…. who send food to the city to give to the big senators. Even the president eats some. I see that they don’t do anything to help us. Well, I took the initiative, I found some people who shared the same idea and we got together and created an organization. We put together an organization and every 1st of May we sit down together and exchange ideas. Well, I can say that it’s a day of recreation for us because we enjoy eachother. We talk about farming, how we’ll change things, we exchange ideas, we don’t let the day pass unnoticed because 1st of May we call an agricultural worker’s holiday. Those of us in the domain, we can’t let the day pass. It’s along those lines that we get together. Now, we’re preparing the papers that will make us legal so the State will recognize us. After that, when the State knows who we are, we can make ourselves better known. Why can’t we make ourselves better known now? Because the mayor could come and give us a problem. We don’t want a problem with the law because we’re not yet legal. But we’re working on all the papers. All that remains is for us to go to the Mayor’s office and legalize them.
Socio-Dig: OK, thank you. As farmers do you think that a program like this could make things better. For example, problems that you have at the moment, the program costs too much. It costs too much money to give the children food. They’re looking for a way to give the children more food, but that costs less. That means that now, where they buy the food is on the market, they can go to the market in Fon de Neg. Is there another way that WFP and BND could buy the food locally? A way that would cost them less money so that they could feed more children? What advice, as planters, would you give them?
Socio-Dig: Yes. Number 4.
#4 (Male; 40 years of age; 5 Children; 8th grade; Farmer): First off, we would need a pump. Secondly, we would need a tractor available so that we can work.
Socio-Dig: OK, you need a pump to work the land. That would do what? What would you give WFP and the program?
#4 (Male; 40 years of age; 5 Children; 8th grade; Farmer): Well, eh, we’re telling you what we need. Now it’s the program that can go and tell…
Socio-Dig: What would you offer the program that you’re saying if they give you this. You, what would you offer the program?
#4 (Male; 40 years of age; 5 Children; 8th grade; Farmer): Well, when we harvest, we’re going to share what we bring in with WFP to pay them back.
Socio-Dig: OK.
[25 minutes]
#5 (Male; 37 years of age; 4 Children; No school; Farmer): Yes, what the man said is good, because us, what makes us lack produce is that we lack stucture. For example, every year we sit there, it’s when the rain falls that we can cultivate. If the rain doesn’t fall all year round, we don’t plant all year. But if we had a system to irrigate, that means that we would not have to wait for the rain to fall. We would always have produce. And if WFP facilitated us finding that means, as the man just said, a plow to turn the soil for us, and an agricultural office for us to find seeds when we needed them to plant, with the pump to irrigate, now, not only would we find an adequate amount for our families and ourselves, but we could help WFP too.
Socio-Dig: OK. Thank you. I want to return to the topic…. Is there no one here who would add something more? Everything you say is important. I know that number five, you were going to say something. Number five. Come closer, I want to hear you!
#4 (Male; 40 years of age; 5 Children; 8th grade; Farmer): [Laughs] Yes, well, me, I see that regarding planting, if like we had a pump for real it would be good for us, because when the rain doesn’t fall we would still find water to do everything for us to live.
Socio-Dig: OK. You may continue. What fruit do you have, what fruit do you pant around here?
Public: We plant plantains, manioc.
Socio-Dig: Fruit, fruit.
Unidentified speaker: We have breadfruit.
#3 (Male; 50 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Fisherman, Farmer): We have mango
Socio-Dig: Yes.
#3 (Male; 50 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Fisherman, Farmer): We have Chachiman
Socio-Dig: OK.
#3 (Male; 50 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Fisherman, Farmer): We have soursop? We have soursop too, some have almost disappeared.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#3 (Male; 50 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Fisherman, Farmer): We almost don’t have soursop anymore. But mango, I guarantee you that’s something peasants like a lot, like they’re going to plant them despite they don’t take root, but they still plant them. You understand.
Socio-Dig: OK. Thank you. Eh, what food do you have? What food do you produce around here that as soon I arrive in the market I would find it, anytime?
#3 (Male; 50 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Fisherman, Farmer): Well, I always say that’s about finished, but we always have some yams.
Socio-Dig: That means that if I arrive in the market…. Where is the market, the market for Ti Rivye?
Public: Yes, the Ti Rivye Market, yes.
Socio-Dig: What food do you know that you have, that if I go to the market I’ll find it anytime, anyday, anytime I go to the market I will find, something that you plant around here?
#3 (Male; 50 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Fisherman, Farmer): Almost all our plants appear at certain times of year. There is a millet harvest. You understand. There is time for corn. But there is a place they call it Sixth that plants all the time, they always have produce. They have cabbage, sweet potatoes, they have yams. Even us, it’s them who supply us.
Socio-Dig: OK, you may speak, yes.
#3 (Male; 50 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Fisherman, Farmer): There is manioc. Even us, it’s them who supply us with it. But for us, it’s yams….. We have manioc….. we almost don’t have it any longer too.
Socio-Dig: Yes.
#-4 : The food you’ll find on the market any time is plantain, yam, sweet potato. Those are things that you can’t not find.
Socio-Dig: You can’t not find them?
#4 (Male; 40 years of age; 5 Children; 8th grade; Farmer): Yes, any time?
[Noise of a vehicle passing]
Socio-Dig: OK. Is there anyone who would like to say something more? OK. I’m going to return to the topic of the garden in a bit. You guys told me that it’s your wives who sell produce, correct?
Public: Yes, yes.
Socio-Dig: Is there no one who goes and sells produce? Why is it your wives who go and sell? If you want to sell, can you do it?
[30 minutes]
#3 (Male; 50 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Fisherman, Farmer): Well, it’s her.
Socio-Dig: Number 3, you may speak.
#3 (Male; 50 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Fisherman, Farmer): It’s my wife who has time. Well, she’s not working. Us, we’re always working. Sometimes we have a group of workers working for us, we have to represent ourselves in the group. You understand? We are in involved in every little thing, because if we are not involved in every little thing, you can say that the children’s school tuition will not get paid. Any little thing, it’s us who have to beat the water to make butter, you undestand.
Socio-Dig: That means that it’s your wives who….?
#3 (Male; 50 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Fisherman, Farmer): Yes, it’s her who is at the house, who has to turn her hand, who has to bring a little something to eat.
Socio-Dig: OK. Yes.
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): When a man takes a woman it’s so that she can help him too in all that he does. All that you do do if you can’t have your wife when you finish working in the garden, oyou finish working and it’s you who has to go and sell the produce in the garden?
Socio-Dig: OK.
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): Do you see that it’s possible? And it’s the woman who should go measure the produce. You, you should work to give the woman something to sell. [laughs]
Socio-Dig: OK. Now let’s say we get together, we create a group of farmers. Now let’s say that there is an institution that’s going to come and buy food from us. Who’s going to be in charge of selling that food? Is it the woman who is in charge of selling that food? Or is it you men who are going to sell the food?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): We will always have a woman who is at the head who will take responsibility of selling the food.
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Because we group ourselves in an association or an organization, or a ‘regwoupman’ the way we say.
Socio-Dig: But it’s men that I see here. I don’t see any women, no.
Public: Yes.
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): No, but it is an invitation that we received.
# 6 : In the invitation that I got it said that we don’t need women that’s why….
Socio-Dig: We were looking for cultivators, we were looking…
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): That’s what I received because I asked if I may come with… The women told me no, it’s men. That’s why you find men here. If it wasn’t for that you would find several women. The organization has several women too.
Socio-Dig: Women cultivators?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Well, that’s what I tell you, yes, that’s what I heard, that’s why you only see men here. And what could happen is that she comes here, it’s not good, she has the right to come here to listen to our meeting, but because she knows that the organization isn’t going to have an extraordinary meeting. When there is something like that she should know. But often it’s by invitation or often by telephone call they say men, that’s why you find men here.
Socio-Dig: No, that’s nothing, no.
Serge : Yes, it’s nothing. Maybe after this we can get an idea of how many women you have.
Socio-Dig: Yes, we’ll ask some questions about that.
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Like what you just said there, you said that if we had an opportunity, if we grouped in an association and some other group wanted to buy produce from us, how would we organize to sell it.
[noise of a vehicle passing].
Well, since we’re and organization, we feel that we would put 2 or 3 people in charge of selling. It doesn’t have to be women because men can sell too. Men can measure, men can sell. Me, I can measure and I can sell. Even this man here can measure. Everyone can measure.
Socio-Dig: OK, that means that what I’m trying to understand here is if you give it to an individual you will give it to a woman, but if it’s a group, men can sell, women can sell?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Yes.
Socio-Dig: That means that if you are alone, you can go sell too?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): No, well, men can go sell too. You know, there could be some men here that sometimes go and sell but they don’t want to admit it. Me, I have not yet gone and sold, but there are men who have sold.
Socio-Dig: Why haven’t you sold?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Yes, there are men who have sold. They might not want to say because they see that you’re a woman, they don’t want to admit it.
Socio-Dig: I don’t have any problem with that… [laughs] What I’m trying to understand is if you’re alone, you agree that a woman sells, but when your together, you say that men can sell Why when you’re alone, you can’t sell, but when you are in a group you don’t say the same thing. Why is that? Why is it that when you’re in a group you say that men can do it, but when you’re alone you say that it’s women you give to sell?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): No, we don’t say that it’s because women are women, because it’s her who feels she has more time than us. We are always busy. That’s why it happens that she can do it for us. But if she didn’t have the time, we could go too, yes.
Socio-Dig: If an association of women had more time, you could have them sell for you too?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Well, that’s what I would say to you, because it’s an association we’re starting here, to sell it can be women or it can be men too.
Socio-Dig: OK. No problem.
[35 minute]
Socio-Dig: Number 7 hasn’t said anything.
Public: You haven’t said anything. You sell cows. With cows we know it’s men who have to go [sell].
Socio-Dig: OK. If there were a school that wanted to buy food from you to cook and feed to the children, would that be something that interests you to participate in?
Public: It would be interesting. It would be good.
Socio-Dig: Why would it be good?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Because the food that the school bought from us, it would be the children who consume it. That’s good again because we would be proud because it’s our local food. Especially since it doesn’t have any chemicals in it like the imported food.
Socio-Dig: OK. You were going to say something else. Is there anyone who would add something else to the question I’m asking. If you found a school that would buy food from you, would you agree to sell it food and why?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): Ah yes, it would be good if the school would buy. I know that my children would get fed. That would be better for me.
Socio-Dig: OK, how so?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): Me, I agree if it’s a project that buys food from us to help in school. I believe that aid is for us. We would also like to sell with those peole. Even at the best price because we know this is aid is for us.
Socio-Dig: OK. And now let’s say the school agrees to buy from you. How would you prefer to give that food. Would you prefer that you take it to the school or would it be necesary that the school come and get the food in your garden?
#1 (Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer): No, the school would not come get the food in my garden. The school would organize and create a base in the area and people in the area would go and sell at the base.
Socio-Dig: OK. Is there anyone who would say something else?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Number 8.
#1 (Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer): Is it any kind of food? Or is it a certain kind of food, like millet?
Socio-Dig: Local food that everyone can eat, that’s what we’re looking for.
#1 (Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer): Something else I would ask. Is it us alone who will produce this food or will we get help so that we can produce more food?
Socio-Dig: OK. To give you an answer, what you’re looking for right now is that they give you help, but you produce food in your garden and they could buy it from you.
#1 (Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer): Eh, they are not going to give us aid?
Socio-Dig: Yes, well, you do this work, right? You work in your garden, right?
#1 (Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer): We work, but if we had aid we could produce more.
Socio-Dig: Yes, I understand what you’re saying.
#1 (Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer): And when 3 people are working somewhere or you have somewhere 10 people are working, they produce more.
Socio-Dig: Um, yes, I understand what you are saying.
#1 (Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer): And sometimes there are people who work with his own strength, he doesn’t have the means to produce much. There are people who can hire workers, there are people who have to do it themselves. We must look at this, there are people who do not have enough means to sell, and they must have something for the household. But if we had some help, he could participate too!
Socio-Dig: OK, thank you. Let me ask you a question too.
#1 (Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer): Yes, I’m listening. I’ll respond.
Public: [laughter]
Socio-Dig: In your opinion do you think it would be better that they put several farmers to work together to buy from them or do you think it would be something that each farmer could do alone, that they buy from each individual farmer?
#1 (Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer): No, it can’t be done like that. They’ll have a storage place where they will buy. The person responsible for purchasing will have somewhere they go to sell. They’ll know what day that people come to buy, that when they’ll go sell. But they can’t go sell in small quantities. They’ll be a day to sell. The person can’t come and buy retail. At the least they will designate someone to be responsible for buying.
Socio-Dig: OK. Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to add anything?
[40 minutes]
#1 (Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer): What I said you didn’t add. Tell me, it was no good?
Socio-Dig: O no, me, no.
Public: No, it’s OK ma’m, it’s OK. It’s good, there’s no problem.
Socio-Dig: What he said was good, there’s no problem. What you said is good Papi. What we’re doing here is looking for knowledge. We’re trying to find out if there was a program… I don’t know, we’re a little behind. If WFP has a canteen around here you might know. There are several schools that give children food. But we’re just trying to understand what possibilities there are to buy food from farmers, if that’s better, will it cost the program less money if they could buy closer to the school.
#1 (Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer): Yes, and for the program to have food, you need to work a lot.
Socio-Dig: Um, um.
#1 (Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer): For the program to have food, there must be a lot of work. There must be people who can care for the gardens so the weeds don’t take them over. Sometimes people take a garden, they get weak on the road, the way it should yield doesn’t happen like that. It’s his own little strength, that’s all he’s got. But if he had some money in hand to pay workers, now the garden wouldn’t be lost.
Socio-Dig: OK. Thank you. Now, for people who know the canteens, I would like to ask you a question. In your opinion, in what way do you think it would be best for the children to get fed at a low price?
Socio-Dig: Number 4.
#1 (Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer): Buy at a low price?
Socio-Dig: Yes, buy at low price, how is that done?
#1 (Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer): Yes, one helps the other… If a person finds some aid for his garden, he wouldn’t ask if a mammit of rice sells for 15 dola. He’s gotta sell at the best price because he remembers that the buyer helped him. But if they didn’t help him, a mammit of millet sells for 15 dola. It’s you who was struggling, you sold your little goat to make a little garden. You remember your expenses. You have to make up for them. If it’s 15 dola you stick to the 15 dola. But if the person helped you, you have to remember that the person helped you. When the person comes to you, you have to help them too. But if you didn’t get help, it’s me who struggled alone and I remember I sold my little goat so I could save the garden….
Socio-Dig: OK.
#1 (Male; 67 years of age; 2 Children; 6th grade; Farmer): If you are afraid that they are going to correct your notebook, you don’t know how to read.
Socio-Dig: OK, thank you Number 1. Is there anyone else who would like to add something? Number 8.
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Yes.
Socio-Dig: You’re a school teacher, correct? Does your school have a canteen?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): The best way for you to buy food at a low price, is the way that he said a little while ago. WFP would enter with some aid. Especially with aid for the farmer. That means we would find some means to plant. An agricultural extension service. When we needed something we could borrow omney. Or they could give us something to go plant. Afterward we say, ‘here is a quantity for us to return to the office, we have no problem. Or give us seeds to plant. They can tax us a little. They can tell us at what price they are going to buy them from us. That’s the only way you can buy them at a better price. But if it is us with our own pump of strength and with our own pump of money that we invest in the land, hey, we’ll have to sell it at market price. We can’t take anything off, we can’t give a rebate.
Socio-Dig: OK. I have two or three more questions to ask. After that I’m finished. In your opinion, how much money do you think the program costs for each student to eat a hot meal. For people who do not have children in school, maybe they don’t know, because they don’t have much information on the canteen. But people who have children, how much money do you think it costs the program to give each child a plate of food?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): I believe that the parents of the children do not konw how much money it costs.
Socio-Dig: Around how much could it cost?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): They don’t understand how much it could cost. But the parents of the children spend for this, all the parents pay the canteen for them.
[45 minutes]
Socio-Dig: You think that the money they pay is for food or something else?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): For the food, because it’s the canteen they’re paying.
Socio-Dig: I think that the parents pay 5 goud.
#4 (Male; 40 years of age; 5 Children; 8th grade; Farmer): Do you think that money is enough to give a child a plate of food.?
#6 (Male; 68 years of age; no Children; Farmer; No school): I don’t know, but they pay the canteen.
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer):. The money is to pay for the children, because it’s 5 goud per week
Socio-Dig: per day.
Public: Per day.
Socio-Dig: Per week?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Yes, per week, it’s 5 goud per week. I don’t believe that 5 goud per week could give a child a plate of food. It can’t give food, but it’s not that the children don’t pay. Because when you take a month, that has 4 weeks, or less. If it’s 31 days he would pay 1 dola per day, it would be 31 dola. Me, I’m in a school that has the program. When they make a child pay 50 goud per month, well, he could not come with even 4 dola. Evaluate at 4×4=16, he could come with 6 goud. The same for 10 goud. Can 10 goud feed a child? The child doesn’t pay, the parent doesn’t pay. There are alot of parents always talking in the street oh, yes, they pay for the children, ‘it’s this and and that.’ That’s not paying. Even the public canteen down there, to eat you gotta have 10 goud. But, just like when you send your child to school and they don’t have a canteen at the school, can 10 goud feed the child for the whole day? You have to give the children 25 goud, and you have to get up early and feed the child at the house. But because you know that the school has food, the children already know they’re going to get something to hold them over. Now you can give 5 goud and you say, ‘go.’ But if you pay one dola per week per child, I don’t believe that’s really paying. Before you could tell the children to carry a piece of wood. Parents talking in the street say that their children don’t carry wood. You always find that, parents who think they’re too good. They make their children arrogant too. Me, I had three children at home. I sent all three with some wood. I made them carry. I had one that was on the road. He gave another smaller children the wood to carry for him. I saw him with both hands empty. I told the child to put the wood down and made him carry it. I’m not going to have my children arrogant like that. The other parents complained. So they changed the system. They tell each parent to gave 50 goud per month. They were all happy. But you see that most of them don’t really pay at all. The majority don’t pay. If you would send the children who don’t pay home… the school could have 50 or 60 children left. The children don’t really pay, they don’t really pay.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): But it’s not that they don’t pay. It’s a nominal sum they make parents pay to participate so that they parents give the thing some importance because sometimes Haitians are like that. If they don’t pay for something, they don’t give it any value. That’s the reason they make them pay. But they aren’t really paying for the food.
Socio-Dig: OK. Thank you. Well, I still have a couple of little questions. I’m almost done. For the parents who have children in the program, what importance to you does having local versus imported food have?
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): We will always prefer local food because it’s us who produce it with our own hands. We already said this before, it doesn’t have any chemicals in it. When the children eat it, they could get sick. When they take a local product with no chemicals in it, us, especialy around here, we do not put any fertilizer or anything like that in it. Local food is best for us. That’s what the children eat.
Socio-Dig: OK. Thank you.
#8 (Male; 40 years of age; 3 Children; High school diploma; Teacher, Farmer): Another thing, it helps us farmers too when they eat local. They’ll buy from us and that brings some money into the household.
Socio-Dig: Since you are in an association, let’s talk about the association. In your opinion, is this something that’s serious. What I mean is that when the association gets some aid, does everyone get aid? Number four.
[50 minutes]
#4 (Male; 40 years of age; 5 Children; 8th grade; Farmer): Yes, for me, it’s the opposite. You said how if WFP invested in farmers it is going to recuperate the money it invested. Should each individual sell theirs. The way I see it, it would not be each person, it would be the president of the organization. You understand. Immediately, if you know that you need 50 mammit of millet from the organization, it’s the president who knows if it’s 2 mamit that he’ll take from you. Will the 2 mammit add up to 50 mammit that you’re asking for. This means that the individual doesn’t need to sell their produce. It’s the president. It’s the same as with a church that has a pastor. It’s the pastor who knows what he’s doing in his church, isn’t it? It’s the same for the association and the president. It’s him we put our trust in. All that comes, should come to him. Everyone will participate.
Socio-Dig: OK. Thank you very much. I don’t know if you have any questions. I feel that I’m finished with my questions.
53 minutes 54 seconds
Focus Group #14: School Canteen Supervisors, Before
October 2016
Duration of focus group: 01:00:30
Participants
#1: Blank_1; Male; Blank_School_1; 2 Children; School director; 12 years employment
#2: Blank_2; Male; Blank_School_2; 0 Children; Teacher; 6 years employment
#3: Blank_3; Male; Blank_School_3; 1 Child; Teacher; 12 years employment
#4: Blank_4; Male; Blank_School_4; 6 Children; School Director; 3 years employment
#5: Blank_5; Male; Blank_School_5; 1 Child; School director; 19 years employment
We say hello to everyone here and we thank you for coming. We’re here to conduct an evaluation of the school feeding program that BND, ROPANIP and WFP have undertaken in the schools in the area. Us, we are not a part of any of those organizations. We are a group apart, we work for Socio-Dig, who they hired to conduct an investigation… so that they can understand how the program is working in the region, so that they can make it better wherever it might be necessary, to allow the program to function better. That means that you can feel at ease to tell us whatever you think about the program. Good or bad. We will report what you say without citing your name in the report. You can tell us whatever changes you would like to be made or not made. This means that us, we can serve as a bridge between you who are beneficiaries with BND, ROPANIP and WFP… You can make recommendations to us and we will pass them on.
My name is Pharrel Emile. I work with the evaluation team. I have with me Renaud Previlon and Timothy Schwartz.
- We gave each of you a card with a number on it. This is so that we can keep everything in order. Each time someone needs to speak, they should raise the number to identify themselves so that we can let you speak.
So, you know already how the program works. It was there the past year. They continued with it this year. It’s different this year because they gave you guys more responsibility. How do you see that decision?
[Silence]
#5: Well, eh, could you allow me to make a little detour before I respond directly to the question. Eh, all the school directors who have a canteen in the program in the past year have the same complaint. I think that us five here plus the others feel the same way.
Unidentified participant: Yes.
#5 continue: It is that the fresh product they give, sometimes it’s short. When I say it’s short, I mean in quantity. The quantity the program intends to give, it’s not what we get. And the quantity the program intends to give, what BND intends to give, it’s small too. Thus, if it’s already small and when they come you weigh it, and me, personally, there some things I tell them. Take cabbage, for example…. when I weigh it on the scale, it gives me X kilograms that BND intended to give. But because they came on Monday, when they come and give it…. it’s like they put it in water, it swells up, it gives you a quantity of kilograms, but the next day you go and weigh it and you don’t get the same weight. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, you’re always fighting for Wednesday and Thursday. Sometime too, you weigh it… They would give me… I have 85-87 children. When I weigh it I always find it comes up short. For example, if we take the case of carrots. If I’m not mistaken they give us about 12 kilograms of carrots. When they give them, they have everything on them, heads, beards. You can’t cook the beards. It’s the carrot that you can cook [laughs], But they weigh it all. They weigh it, but you, when you take of the heads and the beards, it’s like one half to two thirds what you got. You don’t really get what they gave you… And then when the next day comes, you weigh it again and you see that already several grams are lost, they’re gone. The yams, I don’t know where they dig them up, but me, and I’m in town, they’re always wet, always wet. When I weigh them, for example, they give me 5 kilograms, 6 kilograms of yam, when you weigh them, if they gave you exactly 6 kilograms, the next day when you go weigh them you’ll get 5.85 kilograms. They always give you them every Monday, you, for you to cook them Wednesday, to make stew. Every week it’s the same complaints in almost all the schools. Me, personally, I know, I believe, I made the foreign lady, what’s her name, BLANK, we had to have her come twice. In the end I told her you must come and see because in the contract… Well, there was a time, that I even told the guys from ROPANIP, ‘you can take the food back, take it back…’ I encountered him in front of my house, I told him I wasn’t going to take the food.
Socio-Dig: Why?
#5: Because it wasn’t enough. And when I weighed it, it wasn’t the amount they were supposed to give me. We went almost the entire year like that. We complained a lot. Finally, BND decided that they would allow the five schools represented here to buy the produce themselves. Now what worries me, my worry is that I don’t know if the other four schools are really going to get it, not that I feel I have it.
[Two other unidentified participants laugh]
What I mean is that it might be worse. The worry I have now is that it’s going to be an even bigger annoyance [laughs]. We could be complained now because, me, personally, I’m at 95% very, very busy already and that’s just with the school. I only have a little time now to give to the school. Now there is the canteen activities that they’ve piled on top of everything else.
Unidentified participant: For me it’s an abscess on top of a boil. I don’t know if you know that expression, abscess on a boil, it means that they’re increasing the pain, they’re increasing the work.
#5: Oh, the work. Work. And you must do your work well. Now you’re a slave. Every morning from Monday to Friday I’m obliged to devote at least 1 hour to the canteen. That’s just every morning. Sometimes I have a couple classes to give…. Sometimes I give classes in another school at 7 am, often I can’t go. That bothers me… because when you take on a responsibility you honor it. Well I think that BLANK-SCHOOL, it will publicly withdraw their contract…. Well, me… I just have to resign myself. I’ll try for the first month to see how it goes because you always must try, you must be able to try. But I feel that the way things are going it’s going to be more work. Now, what I can suggest after the first month is to pressure ROPANIP to improve the quality of the produce. For example, manioc. The manioc always comes spoiled. Is it their fault because of where they dig it up? Because it’s something that as soon as you dig it up you must cook it within one or two days. I don’t know if where they buy it they then put it in a storage room for 4 or 5 days and it’s already turned black because when you cook it, it’s rotten. Maybe manioc needs to be replaced by a product that is more resistant. I don’t know. For example, if we take sweet potatoes, they can last for 3, 4, 5 days and they’re fine. So, what I’m saying is that I think they could make an improvement in the system here. They bring millet and often it’s no good, it’s no good. It’s no good. So, I think that now, perhaps they could replace it with corn meal, corn meal. Is what I’m saying clear?
Socio-Dig: What’s wrong with the millet?
#5: It’s spoiled, it’s spoiled.
Unidentified Participant: It lumps.
#5: Just like how you find lumps in brown sugar, that’s how it is. They can bring it to you today, tomorrow when you go to cook it, you look, when you open it, you see that it has little lumps and the lumps are full of green worms. Green. And when you take some in your hand, you see that your hand becomes black.
Socio-Dig: Who else has something to say?
#1: For me, I think it’s a pleasure that they came with this program for these five schools. For me, I feel that it’s a graduation of these five schools. I’m proud of it, despite the difficulties it brings. Despite as my director colleague already said, we are obliged to spend more time managing the canteen. Me, like with the manioc that spoils, I think that it’s because they dig it up too many days in advance. The yams too were a problem…. The people who were selling yams were saving money because they gave us a lot of yams that were “manboule”.
Socio-Dig: The yams were what?
#1: “Manboule,” they are old yams. They aren’t dry at all. They are no good at all. Merchants who buy yams to resell, when they find yams like that they take them out. And the person who is selling yams to the canteen knows very well that those yams are no good. But they put them in as means of saving money. I came to realize that if it was us who was buying them from people in the community we would choose those that are good. But starting today I’m not going to be discouraged. Director BLANK, as we already said, we’ll put our heads together to see who we can advance. That makes me very happy, even though there are some hurdles, I feel like the way we get together and talk is good. For us to put our heads together and share our difficulties and search for solutions.
Silence
#4: It’s almost the same complaint, except manioc also… There was a day they brought me some. They had peeled it and there wasn’t 5 pieces that were any good. I left it, went and called Agronomist Emile. I told him, here’s the manioc they brought me, here it is, come look at it. And he told me to wait for him to come by and see it. The yams too, it’s the same thing with the yams. They told me that it’s when they are almost finished, seems that’s when they brought them. I don’t know if they abuse what they bring, but they’re really no good.
Socio-Dig: When you have problems like this, do you cancel the canteen for the day or what do you do?
#1: No, we do what we must to feed…
Socio-Dig: What do you do?
#1: We do what we must to feed. When the food is no good, we put breadfruit on the fire.
Socio-Dig: You’re the ones who buy it?
#1: Yes, we buy it, we put it on the fire. We put flour in it so that we can feed the children.
Unidentified participant: We put other things in it. Sometimes we put in plantains.
#1: Yes, we put other things in. And what they give us to, well, I’m repeating myself again, it’s not enough. What they give us is not enough. There was a day that they brought yams for us. They said that they had brought 16 kilos. When I weighed it, I got 13 kilos. I called the agronomist and I told him how much they brought, that it was short. And another thing they do that isn’t good for us, there was a time they brought the food in the night. When they do that I don’t have an opportunity to weigh it. You understand. That’s not good. Well, since it’s an experiment, as the director said, it’s an experiment, and we’ll just have to wait and see what works and doesn’t work.
Socio-Dig: But now you it’s you guys who are responsible for getting then produce
#1: Yes, that’s the experiment we’re trying now.
Socio-Dig: OK. Yes, and you #3
#3: Well… sorghum and millet. There was a millet they brought us that was no good at all. Not at all, at all, at all! There were some beans they brought that we burned because they had insects in them. The sorghum too, when you put it on the fire it stunk. When something stinks you know that you can’t eat it.
Socio-Dig: Does that happen often?
#1: Not so often, not so often.
Unidentified Participant: They even tell us to put the sorghum in the sun.
#1: Yes, and Agronomist Emile said something. He said, that or wet it. He said they wet it and they gave it to us completely wet.
Unidentified participant: In transporting, in transporting.
#1: While they were bringing it to us it got wet. What they did is not good.
#3: Almost the same thing, almost the same thing for all the schools, except we did not mention eggplant. The eggplant they bring, sometimes it’s completely rotten.
Several other participants: Completely rotten.
#3: I don’t know if it’s that they leave them in the sun or what. The manioc, sometimes you peel it and put in the pot and it’s no good. There is a lot of manioc that rots on us before we can use it. There is no way you can feed it to the children. Sometimes you peel as many as 15 breadfruits, put them in the cooking pot so that you can complete the little bit that we get from the program to feed them. What they bring is not enough. And after that, as you guys said, you can carry the word, we have a problem in the schools, the children do not want to pay what’s needed to make the canteen function. Sometimes, I give the cook 50 dola. I must, she’s tending the fire and cooking for the children. Well, I don’t know if in the recommendations we can say something about the cooks who are working their backs off because it’s not easy, it’s not easy at all.
Unidentified participant: That’s very important.
Socio-Dig: All of you have that problem?
Public: All the schools, every one of them.
#2: I think that everything they said there is the same for everyone, I don’t need to repeat it all. Except I will add that the produce is not of good quality. Let me take an example. Spinach. When the spinach comes you always find that it’s full of insects. The leaves are eaten up with holes. Most of the spinach rots. I’m the one responsible for the school canteen. I created a committee of four people. Two of us do most of the work on the committee. Me and a man named BLANK. This year he’s not there. They fired him. I’m almost entirely alone. I’m the only one remaining. When they told me that they were going to have us purchase the produce, before the school even opened I went to the director and I explained to him, I said that they’ve chosen the school for this pilot program that has us purchasing the produce. I said that if it’s me who is responsible of the canteen, I’m going to need some free time so that I can manage the canteen for the school the way it should be done. Well, he didn’t listen, he didn’t hear me. The 6th grade teacher they fired, ans so it’s me, he gave me more responsibilities in the school. He sent me to teach the 6th grade class. Since last year, I’m teaching 5th grade. I had some help from another man. But this year I don’t have any help at all and I must teach 6th grade. I’ve taught 6th grade before, but that was three years ago. I forget much of the material. Now I’ve got both activities on me and I don’t have time.
Socio-Dig: Most of you say that you have other responsibilities. If the canteen was to become an obligation for the school, do you think that you would find a way to continue to feed local food the same way you have been without all these headaches you’re mentioning?
Unidentified Participant: For us to feed in what way?
Unidentified Participant: Local food.
Socio-Dig: Anything. Do you have children?
Same Unidentified Participant: Yes, I have children
Socio-Dig: What do you feed your child in the morning?
Public: Laughter
Same Unidentified Participant: In the morning I might give them a little corn meal, early in the morning. If I have breadfruit, I give them a little breadfruit, early. And sometimes I a little bit of plantain too. Sometimes, especially if they are going to school.
Another Unidentified Participant: Sometimes you give them bread and coffee.
Socio-Dig: And you, what do you feed them?
Unidentified Participant: Ah, I feed them…. Well, I don’t give just one thing in the morning, no, things very.
Unidentified Participant: Yes, that’s right.
Socio-Dig: Give us a couple of examples of what you feed in the morning.
Unidentified Participant continues: He eats yam, plantain, breadfruit…
Socio-Dig: You boil them?
Unidentified Participant: Yes.
#2: Me, I don’t have any children.
Unidentified Participant: I usually give mine a variety of different foods. When it’s bread and coffee we have, we give them that.
Different Unidentified Participant: Sometimes it’s bread and egg that we feed them. They can take a little juice with them when they go. Sometimes it’s breadfruit they can boil. They boil it and eat it.
Earlier Unidentified Participant: They boiled it and eat it and they take a little fish with them and go to school. It varies.
#1: Well, we do the same, we give them yams because where I live there is a time of year when we have a lot of yams. We give them sweet potatoes. We give them malanga and manioc and every now and then we give them spaghetti, a little corn meal, those are the types of things we make.
Unidentified Participant: That we give in the morning.
Socio-Dig: You always give them those foods before school?
Public: Yes, before they go to school.
Socio-Dig: So, your children, obligatorily eat something before they go to school?
Public: Yes, before they go to school.
Socio-Dig: Do you think that all the children in school eat something before they come to school?
Public: No, no, no, most do not eat.
Unidentified Participant: No, most do not eat. Let me explain it to you. You see that there a lot of merchants that come here. Sometimes I sit in the office and children come to me and that they have a stomachache. When they tell me their stomach is hurting, what’s wrong with them?
Another Unidentified Participant: Hunger, hunger.
Previous Unidentified Participant continues: Right away I send for something from the merchant. Sometimes when I pay, I pay at the end of the month. I can pay as much as 30 or 40 dola for the children because the children asked for it, I say, ‘give them a fried dough, a little stew….’ In this way, the canteen helps the children.
Other Unidentified Respondents: It’s helps them a lot.
Previous Unidentified Participant continues: It helps us in the administration too because a lot of the time I don’t have that problem anymore. Not the way it used to be. That’s why it helps us. But it’s not all the children who get fed in the morning.
Socio-Dig: You were going to say something?
#1: There’s a problem that just came up…. It concerns the cooks, we have a lot of difficulties managing the cooks. As my colleague already explained, the children need to eat, and they don’t know when the food will be ready. And also, maybe their parents neglected to give him money, or maybe they kept the money to buy food. While this is going on, we’re having difficulty to pay these people. It’s not that we don’t pay them at all, but we have times when we can’t find anything to give them. Me, I started with two cooks. Since January, I only have one because the other found something else to do, she was no longer interested. For example, when WFP visited my school, it was someone else I was obliged to go get so that the food would be prepared on time. Because just one cook could never get the food prepared on time. If I have two cooks who had taken the training…. I don’t know what we’re going to do. Even when we call the parents to a meeting, they don’t give enough money to pay the cook. Another thing I was going to say concerns the yams, the yams we have most around here and that all the other schools consume are yellow yams. We know that yellow yams aren’t in season yet. I think they begin in December and last until April, May, even in June we still have some. The yams we have now, that are beginning to be finished, are Guinea yams. It’s a yam that’s more expensive than yellow yams. I was asking myself, can we find something to replace the yams?
Socio-Dig: I don’t know if in the program they give you something that could replace them. Are the parents supposed to make a contribution to the canteen?
#1: Yes, the parents have a contribution they’re supposed to make. The contribution is for us to buy spices, to buy wood, and for us to find a little something to give the cooks so that they can wash their cloths.
Socio-Dig: It’s a monetary contribution?
#1: The contribution is 5 goud
Unidentified Participant: Five goud per day. Per day.
#1: Yes, per school day.
#1: Me, for example, I have 94 children, in a day I might collect 100 goud. Another day I might get 150 goud. For example, when exams come, the children know that if they take their exams, then they will go, and I’ll never get my money. And after all that time they’ve been insisting that we have food for them. When exams come we always make sure that we make food so that we do not start hoping that we’ll find 5 goud at all [makes little sense, I can only infer that this is convoluted way of saying that they withhold grades for money. Perhaps the speaker realized in the middle of saying this that WFP doesn’t/wouldn’t approve]. And that’s the way things always are.
Socio-Dig: You always collect the 5 goud each Monday or Friday.
#1: Yes, yes, sometimes too we collect it, for example, we collect 5 goud each day. Because the children already know that they must give 25 goud per week. In that 25 goud, we might get 10 goud. And then, there are some students who don’t give anything at all, and they insist that all the children get fed.
Socio-Dig: [A new animator enters the conversation and totally changes the topic]. Have you guys ever tried to dig a hole and put manioc they bring to you in, under the ground?
Public: We don’t do that.
Socio-Dig: You know that can keep the manioc from spoiling?
#1: Let me tell you about an experiment I made. If the manioc is in the ground and you take some off the root, it will stay with the plant and it won’t rot. But if you severe it from the plant it will spoil, even if stays in the ground.
Unidentified Participant: It’s a great farmer who is speaking there.
#1: And if you scrape it up just a little bit it will rot.
Public: [Laughter]
Socio-Dig: For sweet potatoes, if you give them a little sun they’ll keep for several days.
#1: Sweet potatoes, around where I live, even if you’ve roughed them up, even if they haven’t been in the sun, they’ll last for as long as a month.
[New Socio-Dig animator continues with digression about burying manioc…which is here ommitted]
Socio-Dig: Why don’t you feed bananas or peanut clusters?
Unidentified Participant: It would be good, you’re right, but it would cost too much money?
Socio-Dig: It would cost a lot of money?
#1: Yes, especially the bananas.
Unidentified Participant: Can they replace one product with another? We were talking about the problems with manioc, could we replace manioc with plantains?
Socio-Dig: Aren’t plantains expensive?
Same Unidentified Participant: Plantains are expensive.
Another Unidentified Participant: That’s going to depend.
Same Unidentified Participant: Plantains are expensive, yes. But it depends what season it is.
Socio-Dig: Do you guys have the right to make changes like that in the system?
Same Unidentified Participant: I don’t think so, no.
Socio-Dig: Have you asked?
Same Unidentified Participant: He could ask that, he could ask that. It would be could good to replace one with the other.
#1: For me, we could replace manioc with sweet potatoes.
Socio-Dig: Would you find it all year round?
#1: Sweet potatoes, there are always sweet potatoes. Manioc, right now there is no manioc.
Same Unidentified Participant: There are sweet potatoes and there are always plantains. We’re never out of sweet potatoes and plantains.
Socio-Dig: In your opinion, and given the problem with cooks, do you think that cooking food is the best and only way for you to feed the children every day?
Silence…
Unidentified Participant: That’s going to depend on your objective.
Socio-Dig: Couldn’t you give the children the same things that you feed them outside of school, a form of processed food like peanut clusters, coconut and corn meal mix, thinks like that, or boil something to feed them every day?
Public: Yes
Socio-Dig: Do you think it’s possible that it would be better to give them these things at school?
Unidentified Participant: Only that?
Socio-Dig: You could vary it because there are a lot of items. I was speaking to a woman who explained to me that with breadfruit alone you can make 21 different types of food?
#5: Well, what I can say, eh, let’s begin in a general way to get to the point. The school canteen helps us in several ways. It permits the children to learn, that’s something we all observe. Because when children are hungry, as my colleague was just saying there, they don’t eat, they don’t listen when you speak to them… I lose time teaching them. And when the child gets home, if he doesn’t find something to eat, he won’t pick up a book to study. So, the next day when you expect him to come and recite his lesson he doesn’t know it. He didn’t do his homework. He doesn’t know. But when the child gets fed he can’t tell the teacher that he was hungry, after all, he ate in front of the teacher. So, the dividends in terms of learning increase with the feeding. The parents too, you know the economic situation here in Haiti, when they know that the child got fed at school they don’t have to spend so much time trying to find something to feed them before they come to school, because they’ll get fed at school. That’s the advantage of the canteen I’m trying to show you. And what’s more, us too, the teachers and the director, we sense the improvement.
Unidentified Participant: They’re better, they’re better.
#5: My experience when I wasn’t yet in the canteen program, I always said that come Friday, there is a bogey man in the school. It’s a way of speaking to explain that children don’t come to school on Friday. There’s a bogey man that’s devouring the children on Fridays because it’s four days, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, but come Friday, the children don’t come to school. The parents are happy to say it’s the weekend, there is no school. But now, it’s my impression that if we had a canteen on Saturday, the children would come to school. The rain is pouring down, no one can go out, I get to school at 7:00 am or 7:15 am, well at 6:30 am the children are already in the school yard. As soon as I arrive they’re yelling good morning director and at the same time they go and check what’s happening behind the school. When they get to school they say, ‘what’s going on, there’s no cooking fire yet today? There’s no food today?
[Laughter]
They say, ‘no, I saw the cook…that means there’s food, just wait…’ When they come they see that bad weather is coming, 15 or 20 of them have arrived, they say, ‘let’s pray to God that the rain gets worse now, so the rest of the students don’t come so we get more to eat.
[Laughter]
That shows you how the canteen is useful. If there was no canteen it would very much affect the students. It would really disturb them. For example, I just said a little while ago what would happen if there was no food on the fire? Well, let’s suppose they didn’t make food. Now, you would have to give the children something to replace the hot meal. It can’t be something sweet. If it’s something sweet I think it could make the children sick, like a type of worm or something like that. But when the children eat salt-food I think it can help his body and permit him to study better.
#1: To support what you’re saying, like bread, you can prepare something and put it on bread and then give the children something to drink afterward, that would satisfy them.
Socio-Dig: You’re talking about bread made with wheat flour?
Public: Yes
Socio-Dig 1: It’s not locally produced. Like it you were talking about cassava, or breadfruit or something else [those are local].
Socio-Dig 2: We don’t have anything predefined. We’re just a team of researchers trying to understand. You could have a product that we don’t know about. It’s in discussing that we can learn about it. We’re talking about salt-food, but you know there are lot of foods that get processed that are salt-food. In what category would you put cassava, salt or sweet?
Unidentified Participant: It can be both.
Socio-Dig: And chanmchanm?
Public: [laughter] Both
Socio-Dig 1: There could be other foods.
Socio-Dig 2: There are others. There are in the sense that there’s a proverb that says, “to kill two birds with one stone” or you spend some time inside the community and you note that there is some big potential that could allow the area to develop. A lot of the time we have the intelligence… [Buying local food for the school], it’s a big advantage for people who produce food, who transport food, who process it. For example, take coconut sugar clusters, people who make them are waiting, waiting all day to sell them for 200 goud or 250 goud profit. If she could sell the tablets she can survive, she can pay for her children to get to school, she can build a house, she can get by. But she doesn’t find a place to really sell them. With the school program, it would allow her to sell them faster. All this means people in the community could make more money.
That’s what makes you see… We were talking of bread. Everyone eats bread, everyone eats flour. But the program can help us with more movement… so that people can benefit. People would sell more. If we have more money moving, people can produce more, sell more, encourage farmers to produce more. They would prefer that it’s manioc, cassava bread, or even sweet bread. There are other things that are made from foods we produce. Where I live they have what they call ‘doukounou’ and they make it with manioc. There are different foods they make from manioc. What do they call that, ‘Galet’. Galet too you could make. All of these things we are accustomed to eating. All of us, we are Haitian. We know that they can eat these things. If we eat these things at our homes, it’s not a problem for the children to eat them in school too.
#3: I see that it would not be a problem if we could find those things, but we have such a problem collecting the money from the children already, how would be go about getting those things?
Socio-Dig: What do you mean?
#3: How would we go about finding those things to replace the other produce?
Socio-Dig: You’re talking about tablet [peanut, cashew, and coconut clusters] and things like that? We could buy them with the same money from the program.
#3: But is there enough?
Socio-Dig: How much money could a tablet cost?
Public: 10 goud, 10 goud, 5 goud
Socio-Dig: If I was in your place, as a teacher or school director who doesn’t have time, I would be thinking that it might be better if I didn’t have to deal with the canteen. I would do something else. I would have a merchant who sells bananas, tablet, and cassava sell me a quantity. Every day, I would give the children something different. The same way that someone was saying that when the children used to complain about being hungry he would buy something in front of the school, it’s a simple way to avoid problems with the cook and getting ingredients to cook the food. And what you buy in the community would help the economy.
Unidentified Participant: It would help get money circulating in the community.
Socio-Dig: That’s it, the idea is to get some money circulating!
Public: Yes, money circulating in the community.
Socio-Dig: Really, we don’t have anything to teach you. We’ve come to learn from you. That’s why we came to sit down with you and talk. We can better find a solution together because you live here, you know the system.
Silence
A participant laughs.
#3: For example, when I take the commune of Ti Rivye, it’s an area that has a lot of breadfruit. I think it’s the produce they make the most of. And there are multiple ways to prepare it. If we could try with breadfruit, what formula we can use to see how they would eat it? They don’t have to boil it or fry it.
Socio-Dig: You know some products they make with breadfruit? How do they make them?
#3: I have an idea, but I’d like to try some out. For example, when they have the breadfruit festival.
Socio-Dig: If they fry it in grease the children get more food than if they boil it.
#3: Yes. And they eat it boiled and they eat it fried. I believe they eat in every form, every form. Even flour. I don’t know.
Unidentified Participant: Yes, they make flour too.
Socio-Dig: They make flour with breadfruit?
Public: It takes time.
Unidentified Participant: It takes a lot of time because you must peel it, you must peel it, they must cut it into pieces, put it to dry in the sun before they pound it [in a mortar and pestle]. You understand. It takes time.
Socio-Dig: This work, it’s not you personally who does it?
#3: Yes, we can do it, we can do it, we can do it.
Socio-Dig: It’s not a particular person who processes it.
#3: If it’s a supplier who gives it to you, the supplier, we would pay them to do it, it would conserve better now because it’s a flour.
Socio-Dig: Could you find people to do that for you?
Unidentified participant: Well, since I have not yet seen where they do that, I haven’t seen people who do it. Like people who do it to sell or to do something else with it, sometimes you meet people who do it at their home because it’s something they have in their head… They do it, but not to sell because I’ve haven’t ever seen a place where they sell the flour.
#3: And everyone has it [breadfruit].
Socio-Dig: We would say that you have a lot of sweet potatoes too. What do you do with them all?
#1: It’s the same thing with breadfruit, people fry sweet potatoes the same way they fry bread fruit and they eat it the same way. They boil them. They roast them. The same as with bread fruit.
Socio-Dig: There is a person in Ti Rivye who told me that with breadfruit you can do more than boil breadfruit and put it on a plate to eat. You can make flour, juice, akra (fried sticks), patties, breadfruit balls, chips.
Unidentified Participant: Yes, they make all that with them.
Socio-Dig: They fry it, they make cookies, they make ponmket (heavy brown bread), they make cake, they make pizza, and they make jam with breadfruit. In all of those products, which one do you think could be used in the canteen?
Unidentified participant: Tells us all of them again.
Public: [laughter]
Socio-Dig: She told me they make juice, mashed breadfruit, fried sticks, patties, breadfruit, chips, fries, cookies, brown bread ponmket, cake, pizza, jam.
Unidentified Participant: And they boil it too.
Public: [laughter]
Socio-Dig: [laughs] We didn’t mention boiling because we all talked about that already. And it’s not a means of processing. The list I just cited was a list of processed foods. She told me that all those foods, with the exception of fried breadfruit, can last for a week.
Unidentified Participant: I think yes, I think that’s what she said…
Unidentified Participant: It really can make those things.
Socio-Dig: What do you think?
Unidentified Participant: Well, there’s one that can’t last a week. For example, Tonmtonm.
Socio-Dig: Yes, we know, there are some that can’t last a week.
Unidentified Participant: Tonmtonm is good for a single day.
Socio-Dig: But is there one that you see that we can use in the canteen? Like, we could choose one day per week, we don’t cook, and we give one of these foods?
Unidentified Participant: Ah, ok, I see what you mean, is there something we can give the children one day per week?
Several Unidentified Participants: Yes, for one day. We could give chips. And we could give juice.
Same Unidentified Participant: Now the question is who will process the food for us?
Socio-Dig: Someone in the community who’s accustomed to doing it. We already know that we could give children chips and juice.
Public: Yes, for one day, for one day.
#1: In my area, the only people I’m going to find is someone to fry breadfruit and tonmtonm. I won’t be able to find anyone for the rest of the products. Cake, chips, I won’t find anyone to do that.
Socio-Dig: Does everyone in the area eat tonmtonm?
Public: Not all children eat tonmtonm. I don’t eat it…. I don’t even know anyone who makes it.
#1: If it’s around my house, it’s already impossible. Except that I could take it from somewhere around here and carry it to my house, because where I live we don’t have breadfruit.
Socio-Dig: They don’t have yam where you live?
#1: No.
Unidentified Participant: We can’t make chips with plantains too?
Socio-Dig: What did you say you make with sweet potatoes?
Public: They fry them, they boil them, they make sweet potatoe bread with them.
Socio-Dig: You do that, I hadn’t heard of sweet potatoe bread.
Unidentified Participant: Ahh, something that’s delicious (laughs).
Socio-Dig 1: Well, the things you’re talking about, you just look for someone who knows how to make it and you buy it from them.
Socio-Dig 2: I notice that you all have many years working at schools. Do don’t you think that the parents could plan a role in the managing the food at the school?
Public: Yes, for the food, yes.
Socio-Dig 2: For that to happen there should be a parent’s committee?
Unidentified participant: Yes.
Socio-Dig 1: Do you think that could work?
#4: Yes, eh, do we see the parents?
Socio-Dig 2: If they could play a role in making this work better?
#2: In my school the parent’s committee doesn’t work so good. The parents could help. For example, they could bring us wood. It would be good. Because here in Ti Rivye we must buy wood. We can pay as much as 80 dola [400 goud]. You understand. And the parents, they don’t really give money. In my school it’s 10 dola [50 goud] we ask parents to give every month. Sometimes we don’t get it. You understand. Sometimes we must take it out of the director’s fund to buy wood. Since the school has some sponsors too, we use that to pay the cooks. That’s what makes the process possible…. But I would think that the parents could play an important role in the canteen.
Socio-Dig: Have you asked them to that?
#2: Well, it’s not me who’s the director of the school. I always encourage the director to make the parents participate, to get them involved, have meetings with them and get them involved, have them participate.
Socio-Dig: Ok
#4: Yes, the parents could play a role in the program. When the canteen just started there were two parents who came, and they spent two days and they made food for the students. But after that they wanted to be paid. They had to get paid. Since there was nothing to pay them with they left and didn’t come back….
Silence
#3: The parents think, people in the canteen… they think we have a bunch of money to do the canteen.
#2: Yes
#3: That means that if you ask for a favor, right away they say you have money … The parents don’t really want to collaborate. Me, like, I often need wood. When they used to send it, they send charcoal just one time, the charcoal had just run out. I use wood. Sometimes when I can’t find any at all I have to go to my house and use what I have on reserve… The parents don’t really want to collaborate. You see what I collect, when I send someone to the market I give them 1,000 goud, but sometimes I can’t collect 1,000 goud. The parents don’t really want to collaborate with us.
#5: My experience, and I should say first that each school has its particular experiences. The professor here, he’s at a national school. Mine, it’s a private school. Yours it’s a, what would you say? Private mission?
Unidentified Participant: Private, private.
[laughter]
#5: Let’s say, private mission. Each has its particularities. Yours is private?
Unidentified Participant: National, national. And his is a religious school….
#5: He said that you have a big partner, he said a word a little while ago that, what was it?
Unidentified Participant: A sponsor?
#5: A sponsor. Me, for example, I took Blank-School. It’s one reason we have almost 200 and how many students. The students reduce in number, little by little. We don’t have neither PSUGO nor EPT, which means that it’s the parents. The pig cooks in its own fat. Imagine, for you to have a school that has 100 and how many children in it and only 85 come to school and the rest aren’t there because they can’t pay the 2,000 goud for the year, which has all the costs included. And that’s all we have to do everything we have to do, to pay the teachers… So that means it’s a school that you’re forcing to happen, it’s by force.
We had a parent that consented to sell us wood. Because we’re in town, he had to go all the way BLANK to get the wood. He supplied us for a 2nd month, a 3rd month. The 3rd month he started not to bring it to us all the time. We went 2 days when we could not cook because we didn’t have any wood…. He had a child who was in the school, eating at the canteen. That means that it wasn’t someone who had nothing to do with the school, who didn’t know the importance of what was going on with the children in the school. Finally, when I saw this, I had to forget about him and take someone else who is all the way in Rouso. When I got to the seaside [to get the wood] …. I took a taptap to go get it. He said [the taptap driver], ‘for 50 dola I’ll get the wood and deliver it to you.’ And him, he was giving the wood for 400 dola per month. You see the situation? Each school has its problems. 400 dola for wood and I must go get it. And it wasn’t just one hit I took. For the vehicle it was 250 goud ever time to go get the wood. When I took a motorcycle, it was more expensive because I had to make two trips. What’s more, I have 2 cooks. Those 2 cooks, one of them has children in the school. The child is in 5th grade, going into 6th grade now. We gave her 150 dola, the other cook we gave 150 dola. So, when she came she makes 700 dola, obligatory, to pay for the wood plus the transport. So, we took out the money for transport, we took 700 dola. What’s more, because the first time we did not get salt, we had to buy salt and then after that BND gave me salt for a month. It’s only oil and food they gave us. You can’t cook food with only that. So, with the canteen management committee… it’s a teacher who collects the money for the children, a member of the committee who doesn’t even have children in the school. It’s him who every day comes and gives the food [gets it out of storage]. And I have another parent in the school, who has children in the school, the child died, but she comes twice a month [people laugh]. At the same time Mr. Blank is coming every day, every morning at 6 am to give the food. Me, I’m there only to supervise him. I go to where the teacher is… I do the accounting… He comes and gives me a report on the food, things like that. The first month the teacher tells me he collected 400 dola, but I need 700 dola minimum to pay the cook and the wood. The 2nd month he collected 975 dola. 3rd month he collected 190 dola. And for the month of June, he finished with 65 dola. So that’s to show you that the problem with wood, the problem with the cook is a serious problem.
I think we told BND this, if they could help the way they did at first.
Unidentified Participant: Briquettes
#5 continues: I think briquettes would really be a help. There are areas like here, we must buy it [wood]…. There are some areas in the countryside you can find wood for a good price, but in the town.
Unidentified Participant: It’s out of sight, completely out of sight.
#5: Because when someone comes here, he brings a little bit of wood
Unidentified Participant: 50 dola, 100 dola
#5: He wants 50 dola, 100 dola, it’s a big headache and it’s not enough to cook with for more than 2 days. So, I feel like this is a problem we’re confronting and when I ask for more, I get less. When you have more children, it allows you to collect more and it can be useful, but when you have fewer children you have more problems. It comes to 15 dola, 75 dola that you collect from the children to do everything. And the food isn’t enough. You must buy flour, you must buy breadfruit to put in the food, you buy plantains top put in it. Especially Wednesday, it’s a veritable headache. That what makes us say that while there are many advantages to the canteen for the parents, the school and the children, and we would really like it to continue, there are many annoyances too that we could find solutions to resolve them because it could be better.
Unidentified Participant: It could be better.
#4: And to show you that the parents really don’t want to collaborate, we asked parents that each month the children bring a little bit of wood with 20 goud. Each month, eh. For example, if their on the path coming to school and they find some wood, give 10 goud, the month would be 30 goud. By the month, eh. The children don’t bring it. The parents, they’ll curse you in the street. There are children who do not want to carry wood. There’s a child down there, they told me that his mother followed him with a switch from the house all the way to there.
Unidentified Participant: He wouldn’t carry it.
#4: He doesn’t want to carry it and he has a parent, he has a parent who came there and stood out there, really angry, came to curse me. I said ok, that’s how you are, that’s how your child will be too. The person stood there and cursed me. I turned and went into the office, left them there cursing. Why?
Unidentified Participant: A little bit of wood.
Unidentified Participant: It’s not easy.
#4: Sometimes it’s the person making food who must go look for wood.
Unidentified Participant: Look for straw, look for straw.
[laughter]
#4: There is a watchman here and it’s not his job but sometimes I ask him if he could go with the wheelbarrow to bring wood for the children, so they can make food for the children. You see that the parents don’t want to collaborate with us? 10 goud, 20 goud. A Little bit of wood.
Unidentified Participant: 20 goud per month.
#4: Per month, eh, and a little bit of wood.
#2: Couldn’t you guys find a way to do training for the schools, for example, for the committee members to replace the wood with, what’s it called again?
Unidentified Participant: Briquette
#2: Show us how to make it because that would be very useful to us. It would eliminate the expense of wood if all the school had a large quantity of briquettes to work with.
#4: I think that what you said, to add something, we told Agronomist Emile this, couldn’t they show us…
#2: Yes, so that we have less problems.
#4: He told me that BND doesn’t make them, that it’s WFP that would have to show them how to make them, that’s what he told us.
Socio-Dig 1: I know a person in Port-au-Prince who makes them. There are several NGO, like USAID, WFP that give them the paper to make them. They mix it with something else to make a kind of paste, like when they make cement blocks. I don’t know the details but that’s how he told me they make them. I think that maybe you could make them around here with straw. But I don’t know for sure.
Socio-Dig 2: Well! If there isn’t someone else who wants to say something more, we’ll close the discussion.
#1: Me, to conclude, what I see…
Unidentified Participant: There is no solution.
#1: there is no solution because when I analyze the situation I see the problem with wood is everywhere. The past year it was my father-in-law who was giving me wood. Every now and then he cut a tree near his house. Every week he gave me wood for the canteen. And when we had some money we gave it to him. What discouraged him, he would have quit already, but he said he didn’t want to create any difficulties between us, and that made him continue giving it to me…. In the end he told me he was finished with that. What did I try to do, buy wood and put it on the ground, have someone bring it to me little by little. And it was me who would go and cut it. And I always used a motorcycle because it would cost me money to get someone else to do that for me. Because I couldn’t pay a person, there was no money. Me, I spend all my time on the canteen. All my time for the canteen so that the canteen can succeed for the year. I think the biggest problem is wood and the cooks.
Silence
Socio-Dig: OK. Well, we don’t really have a solution. That’s why we called this meeting with you, to discuss this and see if together we can find a solution to ameliorate the situation. That’s why we suggested the idea of processing local foods to see if that would reduce the costs.
We say a big thank you to all of you who came. We hope that we can stay in touch in some way so that together we can improve the situation.
Focus Group #15: School Canteen Supervisors, After
Date Focus Group: 8 July 2017
Date of Transcription: 2 July 2017
#1: Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher
#3: Male; 36 years of age; 1 Child; University; Teacher
#4: Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director
Socio-Dig: Hello everyone.
Public: Good day.
Socio-Dig: That you for your presence and excuse us because you told me that I should contact you 48 hours in advance. Yes, 48 hours ahead. But that’s not what happened. What happened is that we had a meeting with people from WFP. That’s what caused us to get in contact with you already. The reason for the meeting this morning was because of the pilot program that WFP began with five professors of the school canteen program, whereby BND was giving those responsible in the schools money to buy everything to make food for the children in place of WFP bringing them. Is that right?
Unidentified participant: Well, it was fresh food, fresh food.
Socio-Dig: Now what we would like to know is what happened with that program? What difference is there between BND bringing food for you and when you are responsible yourselves for buying?
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: I say hello to everyone, the representatives of WFP. Well, I represent “Blank-School-1.” I am “Number 4”. To respond directly to the question that you asked, it is indeed a pilot project. All pilot projects can end. It depends on how the project goes. In my view, it was a good experiment because as they say, even in failing you learn. It was good that they tried the pilot project no matter what. Also, when we arrived at the market we made a lot of observations. One observation I made is that I saw the trouble that BND must go through to find the fresh produce. Because me, personally, at the Blank-School-1,” the first time, well, you know that we felt that an oversight committee could manage the canteen. We sent two representatives of the committee to purchase. When they arrived, after two markets, let me see if I can say it the way they said it, they said it was a humiliation. Because when they got there, because they must take the scale to weigh things, they didn’t find everything at once. They could buy all from a single vendor. And as soon as the vendor sees that you’re weighing the produce, she’s already passed the word and every other vendor is impossible. And the money isn’t enough. And the way things are, they go up and down. Sometimes there is abundance, sometimes there is not an abundance. Well, at the time we went to buy it could be a time when a lot of produce is finished, well, the price….Well, times like that I’m obliged to go … suffer. Finally, I had to work only the second week of September. The third person who did it, he came and asked, ‘director, do me a favor and do not send me to the market again to get humiliated’ etcetera. OK, so when I sent the fourth person the last week, he came and said, ‘ahh, my good friend, you know the misery I’m going through because there are products you can’t find and secondly, they’re expensive and the money, it’s not enough for the children we have, it doesn’t make it. Well, I already had talked to BND and told them that for the month of October they did not need to give Blank-School-1 money. They could give ROPANIP the money to continue buying. Then, unfortunately, we the had the hurricane. [laughs].
Hurricane Matthew began on Monday, the 3rd of October. I’m not mistaken because on Sunday, the 2nd, Monday the 3rd of October and, well, since the hurricane, all the month of October school was closed. BND didn’t give us any fresh produce at all, not for the pilot program or other schools. Because they couldn’t find any. The hurricane took all the produce. You couldn’t find any. They began again in January. Well, for the project, that’s the way it was. But it wasn’t the hurricane, it was BND that gave us produce. Well, Blank-School-1 wouldn’t have continued in the month of October. I think that that my colleagues are going talk about that. They already took their money since Friday on the 30th of September, so that they could go to market over the weekend for the first week of October. But Blank-School-1 didn’t take its money because it said that it would not get into that system again because it was too difficult …
Socio-Dig: OK. Let’s hear about someone else’s experience.
[several people are speaking at the same time]
#3 (Male; 36 years of age; 1 Child; University; Teacher): I am number 3 from Blank. It was a beautiful experience for us with the pilot project. [a bird is singing loudly]. I was going to the market every Sunday. [noise of a motorcycle and singing bird]. I would go to the top of the mountain to Javel where they produce, where the source of the stuff is. I would find the produce and some money would be left over. Because down here, they sell for more than up there. Hmm. But I ran into some difficulties because the peasants don’t want to sign for you. Because you must verify the things, you get it approved by the people who sell to you [BND required the school purchasers to have sellers sign receipts]. Well, if it were for that you sell, you can just leave the stuff. That caused a lot of problems. After that, I found it difficult to continue because I was going to go to University. I go each Saturday and each Sunday. The person on the committee who could go in my place, he doesn’t know how to write to make the receipts [he’s illiterate]. Now, he could go and manage the money, but the other person won’t go, especially on Sunday because he’s part of the ministry at the church… The school chores [buying the food] are difficult to get done on Sunday, he wouldn’t have time. That’s what made me stop in October and the hurricane came and stopped everything too. Now they send the produce to me. That’s how things went. But it was a beautiful experience for me, except that there was produce that, like the director said, were difficult to find. I would replace them by the lot. Some were really expensive too, like yam. There are times where yams are more expensive than other times. It was a beautiful experience. [Noise of a truck coming from afar]. That’s what made some people already rent a storage depot? But I couldn’t continue.
Socio-Dig: OK. Thank you.
#1 (Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher): I am number one of Blank-School-2. Well, I salute my representatives too. Just as Director Blank-1 talked about the humiliation that his people suffered, my first experience was in the market. It was me and someone else on the committee. I went with my scale. I put it at the house of a friend. And I bought and weighed, bought and weighed. But when I looked, I saw that it wasn’t good like that. We found people from Payan itself. We called them to come sit with us and make a contract. We said, here is so many kilos we need of each product. We did that despite that the little bit of money they gave us wasn’t enough. We created a way that we could find the things…. We gave money for the moto, and we made arrangements, and they brought the produce to us. They brought the produce and we gave him the money right there. The money they gave us wasn’t enough. so we put some of our own money on it to pay for gas for them to bring the produce to us. That’s what we did. But in the end, it wasn’t us who left the program. It was the hurricane that made us stop. You understand. They had stopped bringing us the produce. And when they did that I saw it was good because when they brought it, there used to be some produce that was rotten. Especially the eggplant, they would rot with us. We told them when to bring it. They brought it every Monday. They brought it to us, and after that we put it somewhere. But when they buy it they would have it for as long as 5 or 6 days. Yes! On the ground, before we got it. I told someone this. I told the woman this, and she told me that it was because they didn’t find it around her. They would go and get it all the way on the other side. They told me would go and get them in Port-au-Prince, and that’s what made them go through so much that they would rot. That’s the way it was.
Socio-Dig: OK. How long did the pilot program last?
#1 (Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher): One month. It lasted one month.
Socio-Dig: How would they give you money? How would they manage it? Did you have a receipt that you would give when you bought? Was there an exact amount of money they gave you? Was it before you bought that they gave you money or after?
Public: Before we bought.
#1 (Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher): Before we bought they gave us money. Us, we didn’t have any trouble getting people to sign. Because the people who brought it to me, I gave them the receipts, they signed them and gave them back to me. After that, when we arrived, we gave them back and when they finished going over them they gave us money again. That’s how it was done.
Socio-Dig: What did BND give you? They gave you money to buy fresh produce, but after that, was there something else they gave you?
Unidentified Participant: After that they gave you dried produce?
#1 (Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher): They gave us dried produce.
Socio-Dig: Like what?
Public: Rice, beans, oil, salt.
Socio-Dig: OK. Let’s make a comparison now between the way they did it before and how they do it now. What I mean is a comparison between how you bought and when it was BND that bought it for you. Anyone can respond.
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: Each person can respond how they wish?
Socio-Dig: Yes.
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: For Blank-School-1, I think that BND continued giving us produce because before we would complain. The food wasn’t enough. Well, they started again in 2017 and for us at Blank-School-1, what they gave became a great quantity, sufficient. And secondly, the eggplant is good. I don’t know how they organize now, if they’re getting the food directly from the producer or what, but since the 2nd of January what they give us is always good. It’s fresh, like something they picked Monday morning and Monday they brought it. But after a lot of talk about how the food is not good, it’s rotten, well finally they seem to have fixed the problem. I think that if they will continue to do like they did since January 2017, they may continue to give us the food [no need to change].
Socio-Dig: OK
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: No matter what, I couldn’t have continued. Like I said already, I didn’t’ have time. Every Saturday and every Sunday I go to the University. I don’t have time to go to market.
Socio-Dig: OK
#1 (Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher): Well, for Blank-School-2, if BND gives it to us, we’ll take it. I would rather they give me food than money.
Socio-Dig: You prefer that it’s BND that brings it?
#1 (Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher): They may bring it, they may bring it
Socio-Dig: OK. According to you is there a way that BND could make the program less expensive?
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: Every school has the same complaint. It’s about the money they ask from the parents to manage the kitchen and buy other things to make food. There are schools where they must buy charcoal. Some schools, they buy wood. Some schools must get their own wood or make their own charcoal to cook food. m. But all this is a Chinese fire drill. They’re all in school. The parents don’t want to pay, and we can’t send them home. Imagine for the month of June, I collected 425 goud for the canteen for the month. For me to pay the cook, to buy wood. And I made a contract with someone to bring me wood from all the way on the top of the mountain, from behind Sileg, because there is wood in town. For all the trips, 500 goud each month. 300 dola (1,500 goud) each month. The cook, we expect to give a little 750 goud per month. Well, that’s already 450 dola (2,500 goud) per month. Obligatory, because you can’t have someone work and not pay them. You can’t put them in the kitchen, she makes food and you don’t pay her. And there you go, you need to get 425 goud when your done to buy spices to put in the food because you can’t just put salt and oil in the food to give to the children. Cook rice and beans with oil and salt only? Well, BND doesn’t do anything there, it’s us, us schools. Therefore, you see the headaches that all the school directors have. All the time I’m complaining to BND about this, they could help us manage this. I don’t know. Now there’s this problem of erosion we battle. Because when you cut trees it’s the land you’re tearing open. … And secondly, we’re in a mess with people who would bring us wood. I remember one time they were trying to give us briquettes. Or, I don’t know, maybe…. If it were possible for them to give us briquettes because normally I don’t know where they found them, if they’re difficult to produce or to find them or what. They could find another source of energy to cook food. It’s not obligatory that it’s charcoal or wood. But the schools don’t have the means. They don’t have the means and if the parents can’t give money for us to make do, you can ask the director of the school there for him to to start giving you examples of how difficult it is to get money from the parents. A stove, a gas stove could make food. The children like food, we’re very happy. The consequence it has had is positive, it yields scholarly dividends, grades are up. When the children used to come to school, they’d sit there, sleeping. You don’t see that in school anymore. Because they find a little food, they eat. The parents, when the children get home from school, the parents know that the child has eaten, they don’t have to worry so much about finding something to feed them. When they get back home they only have to give them something at night, a little supper…. And when the children get home they can force them to study because they know their stomach isn’t empty. I think that all that is an advantage that the canteen has. It’s really a good thing, except with all the problems it has, if WFP could help us manage those problems we would really say, halleluiah (laughs), those of us who believe in God anyway, and Ayibobo (laughs) for those who believe in demons, things like that.
Socio-Dig: OK, thank you. Let’s hear from someone else.
#3 (Male; 36 years of age; 1 Child; University; Teacher): The way the director was saying, it’s all the schools that have difficult collecting money from the children. In my school I’m the one responsible for getting the money from the children. Well, what happens, every week we ask that they give 20 goud per week. First day, we might get 250 goud! After that we might get 500 goud from the children during the rest of the week. With that we must buy ingredients to cook the food. What happens is that I don’t make a contract with the cook. I can’t say here’s how much money I have for you. I give them something. But I can go three months without giving them a cent. I don’t get it, I don’t have it. Sometimes the little bit of money we get, I must buy spices. I tell the women, take it and do what you can. Sometimes the food lacks in taste because to manage it during the week, to make food for five days and with spices, the little bit of money just isn’t enough for you to buy spices for the entire week. That gives me problems with the women after they’ve worked for three months and I can’t give them a goud. Sometimes what we get can’t buy spices at all. Sometimes the children complain. Sometimes they say I pocketed the money they gave. The kids give me a rough way to go. And the women, sometimes they must wash their clothes. They ask for a little money to buy soap, I don’t have it. I don’t have money for soap. You can explain to them A + B, I don’t have it, but sometimes that bothers me so much I tell them if I had anything in my pocket I would give it to you. Especially sometimes they complain, ‘Director, if you had the means you could get me some wood …. I’m the one who must go into the forest and look for the wood. I can’t do two jobs at once.’ That really gives me problems. Well, if WFP could give us those briquettes again, like the other director already said, it would be very good for us.
#1 (Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher): The issue of wood is the most difficult regarding the children paying. The children, the parents do not want to pay. When the director said that he gives people 1,500 goud for wood, we too had someone who we gave a contract to for wood. We asked 1,000 dola (5,000 goud) each month. 1,000 dola. With a lot of haggling he agreed on 600 dola (3,000 goud). He said he’d begin to supply us with wood and he really did start to give it to us. We paid the first month. We paid the second month. Third month nothing (laughs), What saved us, you know that around here when we have bad weather we get a lot of wood that falls to the ground. We pay people for that wood. They cut it up and leave it there. That’s the wood we got to make food. Well, we arrived in the month of June, month of May, the children didn’t pay, we don’t have wood. A parent I have that has not paid could never pay, ever. He told me he has problems top pay. I asked him and he gave me wood for the rest of the days. And I said to him that we had a couple more days in May and another week remaining in June, could he give us wood? He said yes, he’d give us wood. Well, really, he said to me it would not be a problem. I have a big log I carried to split up. He came and split it and after that he brought wood and gave it to us. That’s what saved us. But if BND could come and give us those briquettes again it would be better for us.
Socio-Dig: OK. We know that BND and WFP are on a budget, and you know that when a person has a budget they must follow it to the letter. They can’t spend more. They can’t spend more than what they have. What change do you think could be made so that they could continue to feed the children while keeping the same budget? The question is, do you have a method that you can propose for us to keep the same program while spending less money?
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: You’re the one who is in charge….
[Several people are speaking at once in low tones…]
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: There are some things they announced in training. Since the very first meeting they said they would give the children something. There are some schools that got it. There are some schools that did not get it. And we think that at our level that it would be good for children. And that’s the question of milk.
Socio-Dig: OK
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: … there are two or three parents that do not give it at all, but there are a lot of schools that don’t get it. You don’t get it?
Unidentified Participant: No, I don’t get it.
Unidentified Participant: No, only three schools get it.
Unidentified Participant: For the entire commune?
Unidentified Participant: Yes, three schools in the commune that get it.
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: I think that even though I don’t believe that BND or WFP did that, while I’m thinking I’m thinking yes, it’s a supposition that the milk doesn’t get there. But while they don’t get the milk they could at least replace it with some fresh juice. I think they could find fresh fruit juice to replace it. I think it would be good for the children. The children could take a glass of juice in the morning with a sandwich or, I don’t know, something. And I would think it would be less expensive. And for the children, I think it would be better still. And if they tried it to see what happens, now we wouldn’t need wood or a cook, they could just come and give the children something and finish. There would be less problems for the school director, less problems for the committee, we wouldn’t have to deal with contracts for wood, complaining about wood every end of the year… I think that would allow us to move forward.
Socio-Dig: OK. That means that you think they would stop the cooked food completely or one day they could have cooked food and one day a sandwich and juice?
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: Yes, that’s it, that’s what I was saying, that’s what I was saying. To make things better.
Socio-Dig: OK, thanks!
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: They could also make a week, one week what they give cold and one week hot.
Socio-Dig: But, who do you think could prepare the food? Where do you think they would get it?
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: That I don’t know. I’m just trying to offer some ideas.
Socio-Dig: Yes, I understand you’re just offering ideas. But do you think that if the food came from somewhere else it could cost more? Could they find it around here? For fresh juice, we know you have a lot of passion fruit.
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: You can find a lot of grapefruit, oranges, good oranges that make better juice than sweet oranges.
Socio-Dig: What do you think they could give the juice with?
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: They buy it in the market, they buy it in the market.
Socio-Dig: And if you look for something local?
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: It’s a headache now to put them in a pitcher, it’s another problem.
Unidentified Participant: Yes, it could cost more.
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: No, they could just put it in a big thermos, big thing, and when they go by a school the children already have a cup and the cook is there to wash them each day. The same way the children have a cup to drink water, you understand?
Socio-Dig: OK
#3 (Male; 36 years of age; 1 Child; University; Teacher): I passed a storage place and I saw several cases of milk. They told me it was only three schools they give milk. At the same time, I called the agronomist, I told him it would be good if we could give one school get milk this week and then another school get it the next week. Like that we could cover all the schools without leaving any out. He told me that it was because he could not supply them, that’s what I understood. But if this week you give me and next week you give director BLANK-1 and another week you give BLANK-2, that way we could all partake. I see it as very important. At least if this week I didn’t get any I can hope to get some no matter what. Make each child, make each school partake sometime in the milk. And I saw that it was a milk that can last awhile, 10 months, without spoiling in the bottle.
[a music that became loud makes everyone stop talking]
Socio-Dig: In your opinion, the milk wouldn’t make the program more expensive?
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: No, the milk they told us about would be every Wednesday they would give it to us.
Socio-Dig: That means that when they gave milk they wouldn’t give food?
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: No, they would give stew with the milk.
Socio-Dig: OK, but we’re looking for a way to keep the program and not overspend the budget.
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: The children have a quantity of kilo calories they need to get from the stew. It lacks. Milk could complete it.
Socio-Dig: The program has a budget that it can’t overspend. If it does, the program stops. To avoid that, they can’t spend too much money.
#3 (Male; 36 years of age; 1 Child; University; Teacher): Something else, it’s a proposition. I think that BND is in almost three zones with this local food experience. Hmm. I think that buying in the market the vs buying from the producers they’ll pay a price. But them, if they would try to arrange themselves in a group with them, they have land, I have the impression that eggplant and things like that during the past 6 months they’ve been buying it fresh. I don’t believe they’ve been getting it at the market. The way it is so fresh for the past 6 months, it’s somewhere they’re producing it and they just buy it. That’s the supposition I’m making. Couldn’t they do the same for all the rest of the produce? I think that… What BND is already doing is part of us one way or another. So now if it stops, it will be a problem for us, and me as the school principal, if the school canteen program stops it will bother me and the kids will be asleep in the classroom. The performance of the students will not be the same as before. It is a question for me to contribute for the advancement of the program. My interest in dealing with it, contributing. So, we committed to get together to make sure that BND found the best way to market, if it was in the market they’re going to purchse. From the producer nothing to do with BND itself. So, all those products that we might not have at least to have some of that diminishing, the cost goes down. Is BND itself unable to go in this direction? PAM could not go, right? I did not say PAM. Maybe BND could not go as far as to allow it as well? Although it would not be for 2017-2018 but at least for the 2018-2019 part, I think that could improve the situation.
Socio-Dig: You think they could do that with the BND members or with the professors, school directors?
#3 (Male; 36 years of age; 1 Child; University; Teacher): The members of BND, that’s why I say it’s just a suggestion.
Socio-Dig: You don’t think that could work with the professors, school directors?
#3 (Male; 36 years of age; 1 Child; University; Teacher): No, it would work with them also because it’s a problem of land. Where they produce rice, BND might not have land, but a school director could help the get access, etcetera. He could put the land at their disposition, rent it…. Corn meal, or people, I can’t work the land of others, but we can make a contract. It’s a form of… we make a contract, etcetera. It’s a matter of contracts and cooperation no matter what.
Socio-Dig: Thank you. Is there someone else who would like to add something else?
#1 (Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher): Well, me, in the morning, when I see the children come to school, the first place they look is in the kitchen to see if there’s a fire. As soon as they see there’s fire you see that they’re happy. Sometimes I’m in the office and I hear children say, ‘teacher, my stomach hurts.’ ‘Your stomach hurts? You didn’t eat this morning?’ ‘No.’ Or I send them to get some fried dough from the vendor while they wait for the food to cook. And when they don’t have any food, you look at how much I spend per month. The vendor, I must pay her for fried dough that I owe. Why? For the children. When the children come complaining, you can’t let them go like that. And I see the last time that BND did something, they made an experiment giving snacks. They gave a snack in the morning to wait…
Socio-Dig: Is it popcorn like puffed cheese? It’s made with millet?
#1 (Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher): It’s not extruded cheese snack, no. It’s made with millet. But there is another in the form of extruded cheese snack. I don’t remember what it’s called, no [says this last phrase in French].
Socio-Dig: Hmm. It’s made with millet. It’s sweet and it has salt. How does it go over?
#1 (Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher): Oh, it was good. The children like it.
Unidentified participant: I never tried it.
Socio-Dig: Ohh, you never tried it? But it was a sample, it was a pilot project too.
#1 (Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher): Yes, I had some, it was good. The children liked it a lot. If they ate some this morning, tomorrow they would ask if there wasn’t any more. (laughs). I said, well, there’s a little, and I gave it to them and after they finished it ‘it was good, it was good.’ But when food is not cooked on the fire, well, the children aren’t well! Didn’t you meet with the children? I think they should speak with you.
Socio-Dig: Yes, we spoke with them.
#1 (Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher): I think they should speak with you because children, as soon as they see they don’t have food, well! I don’t know, perhaps the food could… they could not, they could not, the delivery wasn’t made on time, there wasn’t any food. When the children come, you look at yesterday. Yesterday and today aren’t the same thing. They’re not the same thing.
Socio-Dig: I don’t know if you have a last thing that we should discuss about WFP or BND, because like we said at the beginning, we’re here to take your words and carry them back. (laughs).
[one participant laughs and says, ‘take them back’]
#1 (Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher): Great! Bon! let’s go.
[A participant laughs loudly]
#4 (Male; 57 years of age; 3 Children; High school; School Director):: Well, I think that the problem is always the same problem. Hmm. We would encourage BND and WFP to continue with the canteen and we’ll break our necks trying to come up with a formula to make things cheaper. … I think too that their objective is for the children to learn well, that’s what I think [noise of a truck passing]. Thus, we will thank them for the help they give the country of Haiti. I’ll explain it to you right because… Only in Nippes, the country of Haiti, well I’m speaking to WFP. Let me see, the service that you deliver there, when you render it the people don’t have enough means to say thank you nor recuperate what you’ve done for them. But I believe the great Architect, he will continue to accompany them, to bless them and permit you to continue and to give you the wisdom necessary and to know what is necessary to do to permit you in the future to do what you must do to make the system better. [A truck blows its horn]. And what is more, what we also appreciate is that when there is a celebration they don’t stay up there at their homes, but they decide to leave work and come down to the ground all the way to the director of the school [a rooster crows] so that they can exchange ideas to see how we can advance together. That I believe we don’t easily find in the house of Man. But they, as a case, and them being international, that’s what they do and I appreciate that from the bottom of my heart. It’s when things are going bad we say, when they go fast too [another participant is speaking with him], you must have the strength as an educator. Thus, I appreciate that, and I think that they and together we can continue marching on the road to possible amelioration. And sometimes there will be times it’s difficult…. But we will continue together.
Socio-Dig: OK.
[noise of a plane passing]
#1 (Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher): The only thing that we wish you would do is that in the coming year give milk, isn’t that right director? (laughs). We would hope that the milk gets to us.
Socio-Dig: If the milk hasn’t gotten to you [this year], do you think there is something else you could put in it’s place?
#1 (Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher): Well you didn’t say…
Socio-Dig: Excuse me, yes, a motion! Because the problem that makes us not get milk is because they can’t produce the quantity for everyone to get some.
#1 (Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher): Agronomist Emile told us, he told us that. I told him that, and he told us that they really did not have a lot of it. But the director proposed something too. He proposed something good, yes. The director proposed something that would be good. This Wednesday they could give one school and the next Wednesday they could give to another school. [a rooster crows]. Even if they don’t get it every Wednesday, they’ll know that all the schools got it.
Ok
#1 (Male; 55 years of age; 8 Children; 10th grade; Teacher): Even if it’s just once a month, they get it. The director said this, and I see that it would be good if we did it like that.
Socio-Dig: We say thanks to each of you that accepted the meeting with us. We believe in communication. It’s in exchanging ideas that we can arrive at solutions that last and bear fruit. Everything we do is for you, for the country and for the children.
Unidentified participant: Yes
Socio-Dig: It’s a good base of communication that we have that allows us to stay solid. And that’s what we’re trying to build with you.
Public: Good advice, yes.
Focus Group #16: Traders in Dupuy
Date of Focus Group: 7/07/2017
Date: 08/02/2017
Marie Therese
List of Participants
#6: Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader
#5: Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader
#3: Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader
FOCUS GROUP
0 minute
Socio-Dig: To begin, what are we going to do? I’ve already told you who I am, my name. What are we going to do? To begin, you will introduce yourselves, say your number. You can give your name if you like. You can say what you do. Who you are. Things like that.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): May I begin?
Socio-Dig: Yes, you may begin.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Yes, I am number 6. I say hello to everyone. Well, I am a person from this area, Paswa. I am happy to be here with you. I am a trader. A Sara (wholesale of rural produce) I am a Sara, despite since the hurricane we don’t find anything to buy to Sara anymore.
Socio-Dig: Yes.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): We just sit. We don’t do anything.
Socio-Dig: OK. Let’s go to number 5.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Yes,.Well, I’m in the neighborhood because that’s where I live. Even though I’m often not here, I’m not exactly at my house. I can be here for a while and then I’m gone. But since I don’t know what we’re going to discuss here… Me, I don’t trade, I don’t trade any longer, I am just there. But if something comes to the neighborhood I could benefit because we have gardens, other things, other activities, and in the neighborhood, if we would need something…. we can always find it as long as I’m here, I’m there, because … they can always call me on the telephone.
Socio-Dig: Umm.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): And, since I don’t yet know what this is all about.
Socio-Dig: Yes, we’re going to talk about that.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): We’re going to talk, as soon as you need me, I’m there, unless I’m in Port-au-Prince or somewhere else that you can’t find me.
Socio-Dig: OK, no problem.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): I’m a trader, and that’s all.
Socio-Dig: The first question I can ask is about agriculture. Do you work the land? And what do you do?
Public: Yes, I work …
Socio-Dig: Anyone can respond, but you must say your number.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Yes, I am number 5. Yes, we work, we are farmers. But when we are not making gardens, we work, we work the land.
Socio-Dig: OK, what do you harvest? What do you do most?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Well, we plant plantains, yams, despite yams, now I see that yams have a problem because sometimes yams almost want to be a loss, the garden is lost. We plant corn, millet, but our millet, we lose it too because we don’t have millet any more. Because all the millet that we planted already had something that falls on them… This means that we don’t have millet, we can’t cultivate millet, we don’t plant it any longer…. Because if you plant it, there is a type of syrup that’s on it, the millet dies. It’s corn that keeps us going, and we have avocado trees, banana trees, and some yam. Without planting corn, beans, beans in February, black beans, bean season, butter beans… But there are times you plant, you lose them. But no matter what, since you’re there, you’re in the countryside, you live in the province, you must plant a garden, you must plant a garden no matter what.
Socio-Dig: You must plant a garden no matter what.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Yes, you must plant a garden no matter what. You can’t not plant a garden.
Socio-Dig: OK, and you, you do anything else?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Same thing, I would say that we’re farmers. That’s what we plant even though when we’re finished planting we don’t, we don’t… We can finish spending money, we plant a garden and after that you don’t make a dime. The garden is lost, and you don’t make anything on what you spent. But no matter what, we can’t get mad at God. We’re obliged, we must plant, because that’s what we live on. If we have something we can sell in the market or something else that isn’t available, they buy it from you and we can make 50 goud to eat. What that doesn’t mean, I’m telling you that the gardens yield. That means there are some gardens you must buy fertilizer to put on them. And you can finish making a garden and you can’t buy fertilizer, you don’t have the money to put fertilizer on it.
Socio-Dig: OK, thank you. Number three you were going to say something?
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): I would say the same thing. We plant plantains, malanga, yams and that’s all because since the 3rd of October (the day of Hurricane Mathew) we almost don’t find anything in the gardens. Because it destroyed everything.
Socio-Dig: OK, what produce do you usually have all year around.?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): All year round. During the whole year what produce do we have, we have bread fruit, we have mango, we have avocados.…
[5 Minutes]
Socio-Dig: That yields all year round?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): No, it’s every year that it yields?
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): That could mean plantains.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): That means for all year we only have plantains.
Socio-Dig: Only plantains?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Yes, yams yield every year. Bread fruit too, mango. Only plantains we can say yield all round.
Socio-Dig: Can you say that you guys are Madan Sara?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Yes, I can qualify myself as a Madan Sara because I was in it. Now we don’t have anything. You know that I mostly bought plantains to resell but there aren’t any since the storm. That’s why I don’t go anymore….
Socio-Dig: OK, anyone else?
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Yes, excuse me. The plantains have come back, and they’re beautiful, yes, despite the fact that we haven’t harvested yet because the 3rd of October passed and destroyed our gardens. But the plants are beautiful now, I don’t know, soon we’ll get some plantains no matter what because I see that the trees are beautiful.
Socio-Dig: OK. You don’t want to say anything? (laughs),
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): (laughs). I would say the same thing.
Socio-Dig: Where do you go to sell?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Canape Vert.
Socio-Dig: Canape Vert, Port-au-Prince? How do you transport? How is that done?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Transport? We buy at the market. We pay a vehicle. We pay to load, we pay for loading. And we pay the driver who brings them for us. And when we get there we pay again to unload. There are times … you pay dearly, and you don’t even make any money. You go through all that trouble for nothing. And sometimes, and especially when some other place brings in a big quantity, you also don’t make money, you understand?
Socio-Dig: OK. The question I would ask, does the vehicle… Where do you buy? You buy here, or you buy…?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): No, I buy in the market because you must… You buy it down below here from a person. You must have a pack animal to get it from the mountain, for me to come sell it. But, I don’t have an animal to carry it to the market, no. I buy it in the market and I put it right away on a vehicle to bring it. There are times also you go through misery, we get to Port-au-Prince at midnight. When you arrive at midnight, we unload and it’s 1 o’clock in the morning. 2 o’clock in the morning. And then we bath and just get a little sleep and by 4 o’clock we get up so we can sell.
Socio-Dig: OK. When you go to sell in Port-au-Prince, do you sell wholesale or you sell per regime?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): No, we don’t sell them…. Yes, we sell them only retail, you understand? But if someone needs a big bunch, we can sell to them. But the bananas we sell also by the small bunch, and sections so that they can ripen them…
Socio-Dig: Bananas?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Yes.
Socio-Dig: You sell bananas or plantains?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): I buy plantains and I ripen them.
Socio-Dig: You ripen them, OK. You sell them by the small bunch. I see that they have places where they sell bananas by the basket.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): No, we don’t sell bananas by the basket. Bananas by the basket is when they come from the Dominican Republic.
Socio-Dig: OK. Where in Port-au-Prince do you sell.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Canape Vert.
Socio-Dig: Canape Vert?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): In the Canape Vert market. I used to go to Carrefour. But I don’t go anymore. I go to the market in Canape Vert.
Unidentified voice: Why doesn’t she go to Carrefour anymore?
Socio-Dig: OK, and you ma’am, what did you used to sell when you were selling?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Well, I was never a Madan Sara. I always sold loads (by the pack animal). Go up to the mountains, get a load of plantains, put them on the animal, take them to sell in the market.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): I didn’t Sara. I went to sell things in the market at Ti Riviere, Miso that is over there. That’s where we would go and sell our loads.
Socio-Dig: What did you sell the most?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Plantains, yams, malanga. It can be avocados. We bring everything to sell in the market. When we get there, the merchants buy them from us, or anyone who needs to buy.
Socio-Dig: OK. Let’s take an example of yams. Let’s say yams. Let’s take yams for example. How do you sell yams? Do you sell them by the pile or, by the ‘lot’ or per individual fruit?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): You can sell by the ‘lot.’ You put 3 or you can split the pile… or if a merchant asked for the pile you can sell a pile.
Socio-Dig: How many yams does a pile have?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): You can ask 250 dola (1,250 goud) for a pile of yams. Depends on how big they are.
Socio-Dig: How many yams could be involved?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): It could have many. I don’t remember. It could be a lot.
Socio-Dig: It would be a lot?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Yes, a long time ago, yes. If they’re in season, they’re more expensive, yes. You know, things are not the same anymore. Nowadays they’re costlier. And yams are not as plentiful. Nowadays, the number of yams are less in quantity. Nowadays, in all gardens you almost don’t find any yams. Yams are more expensive. 250 dola for a yam, for a pile of yams, yes….
Socio-Dig: There are many yams?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): You sell it both for 100, 120 or so. It depends on the size. If they’re small, you could sell it for 80, 90 dola. But nowadays, if you have them, they’re more expensive. It’s not the same as it was. It’s more expensive.
Socio-Dig: What thing?
[10 minutes]
Socio-Dig: You sell by the basket when you get to the market with them?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): You think we have baskets?
Socio-Dig: You don’t sell by the basket?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): No, avocados, when you transport avocados, it’s by lot you sell them. You count the lot and you put them in the sack of the buyer. You count them, then you put them in the person’s sack.
Socio-Dig: And breadfruit, how do you sell bread fruit?
Public: By the dozen, by the lot, and by the individual. Four make a lot.
Socio-Dig: How much could a dozen breadfruit sell for?
Unidentified voice: What’s a dozen?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): That depends on the price. They could sell for 100 dola (500 goud), they could sell for 80 dola (400 goud)
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Last year, they were already selling for 100 dola, yes. But now, they’re selling for 35 to 40 dola.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): They went down.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Even 25 dola.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): The price is down now.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Because when they have a lot, the price comes down.
Socio-Dig: Beans. You guys said that you grow beans around here. Green peas too?
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): No, no green peas around here.
Socio-Dig: Butter beans?
Public: Butter beans, black beans.
Socio-Dig: Butter beans and black beans, how do they sell beans like that around here?
Public: By the mammit.
Socio-Dig: By the mammit, OK. Do you get credit from an institution that you can borrow from and put into commerce?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): No, we don’t do that. …I don’t do that, because it’s something I’m afraid of. I’m afraid because sometimes you borrow money and you lose your merchandise.
Socio-Dig: Umm.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): There are time you borrow money from someone and you lose your merchandise. You didn’t have your own money, it drives you into a state of frustration, you must pay it back.
Socio-Dig: From someone?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): And me, I’m someone who doesn’t get frustrated for nothing. If it’s money, I don’t get frustrated. I do what I can do to get by. But if you borrow money, you must pay it back. There are times you buy merchandise, the merchandise spoils or s thief can steal it, or steal your money. Now you’re frustrated. You pay it back. That’s what makes me not like borrowing.
Socio-Dig: OK. When you used to sell, did you take credit from…?
[Everyone is speaking at once]
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): No, I traded with my own money. Slaughtered animals, slaughtered pigs, and then invested in other activities. Bought millet, bought beans, bought peanuts, sold them with my own money. I’m always afraid of borrowing.
Socio-Dig: You never borrowed?
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Yes, I borrowed, yes.
Socio-Dig: Where did you borrow?
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): At BNC.
Socio-Dig: Do you ever buy merchandise at the big depots?
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Yes, I used to buy, yes, I bought with my own money, so I didn’t wind up owing.
Socio-Dig: But that’s clients of people who know you?
Public: Yes, we buy from people who know us.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): At the big depots.
Socio-Dig: When I say wholesale, for example, if you’re selling rice, you’re selling beans, you’re selling cooking oil, do you get to the depot and take merchandise on credit. You buy I buy it’s after you sell that you come pay them?
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Yes, that’s what I do, that’s what I do.
Socio-Dig: You do that?
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Yes.
Socio-Dig: And you?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): No, I don’t take big things on credit.
Socio-Dig: Do you take little things to eat on credit?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Yes, I don’t take big things on credit.
Socio-Dig: And you too?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): I don’t buy big things on credit.
Socio-Dig: Does anyone in the neighborhood do processing, fry things, do they have that around her, nothing processed for example?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): If someone fries food they go sell it in the market.
Public: They sell fried stuff in the market. The person could take some fried dough, a little basket, a little bucket of bread fruit.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): The only thing that traders come to buy around here is breadfruit.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Yes, breadfruit.
Socio-Dig: Is there no association of women around here?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): They had a chicken farm. You know, FONKOZE was here and they came and did something with them. They loaned them…
[Telephone rings]
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): The director offered it to me. I told him no, I don’t like it.
Socio-Dig: You don’t like it?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Every time there’s a meeting, the women go. And every time they take some money to give FONKOZE. The director offered me. At that time, I had a baby, I said no, I’m not taking the littlest thing because I don’t like it. If I have 50 goud I made, then with that 50 goud I’m not going to give it to someone else. If I lose, I lose; if I win, I win by myself.
Socio-Dig: Did you tell FONKOZE that it’s a headache?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Aaa (laughs) A headache.
Socio-Dig: And your husband, he works the land? What does your husband do?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Cultivator.
Socio-Dig: He farms?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Mine does it. Sometimes he does some plumbing on the spigot that’s by the road.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Him and one of Ti Toni’s sons do some carpentering…. He works, he works, he has other work beside farming.
[15 Minutes]
Socio-Dig: OK. You know there are men who sell, who do everything in the market.
Public: Yes, there are men who are stingy lowlifes [laughter]
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): No, our husbands are not like that?
Socio-Dig: Yes, I know that (laughs). A question I want to ask about that.
Public: Yes, they have them, they have them. They keep me from walking around the market when I go. [laughs] Yes, there are some men too… My husband isn’t like that, no, my husband is a good man.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): There are some men, they do business, you understand. There are men who do business, who buy charcoal down there and go resell it in the market. Women are doing business, they’re doing business.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): But there are men too who are stingy bums. Breadfruit, sweet potatoes, my little plantains…. My husband isn’t like that. He doesn’t know the price of plantains. My husband doesn’t sell the little passion fruit he has, the little carosol he has. He doesn’t know the price of breadfruit, price of mango, he gives me my load, I go to the market, my money is for me.
Socio-Dig: OK. I’m going to ask a you a question. According to you, who do you think should be responsible for selling all those things?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Women.
Socio-Dig: Why?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Because women are responsible for the house, and so women sell (laughs).
Socio-Dig: And you number five, can men sell too?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Yes, men can sell, men can sell. Men can sell everything, men can do everything too, yes.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Men have their stuff to sell.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Men do everything, but like carosol, passion fruit, kachiman, those things, when a man gets up to go sell those things, it’s not pretty. But for activity, men do everything, everything. But men are not supposed to go to the market with those things.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Since we’re in the countryside, because in the city men do everything. Men [in the city] don’t make a distinction in what commerce to engage in.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Listen, men don’t have anything they don’t do. Men do everything.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): But since we’re in the countryside, the man has a wife in the house, he’s not supposed to do it. If his wife isn’t sick, he’s not supposed to take those things to the market and sell them. His wife is supposed to do it. He’s supposed to do another kind of work for the house.
Socio-Dig: Umm.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): You understand? His wife goes to the market. He’s supposed to plant a garden.
Socio-Dig: And if he and wife both go to the market?
Public: Right up to now he could be in the market.
Socio-Dig: He would be selling with his wife.
Public: He can sell, yes (laughs). He can stand, that’s rare, yes, but it happens, he can stand, he can stand.
Socio-Dig: If your husband did that, you wouldn’t have a problem with that?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): No, I would not have a problem with him, no. Because I already know the money that I have he’s not going to be messing with it, he won’t’ tell me what to do with it. Me, if I want to give him some of it, I’ll give him some. But there are men who can go and try to manage what you’re selling, after he sees what you’re making he says give him the money. People like that are not possible to have in the house and I manage the house and I’m the woman and I can manage the house.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Yes, I have.
Socio-Dig: You have?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): I have.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): I don’t have mine…
Socio-Dig: They already…
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): You have a nephew, you have a nephew who is. ….
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Yes, well, I don’t have children with me any longer. But you know, I have a little family, little nephew. I have children, I don’t have my children there, I have a small family.
Socio-Dig: OK. If you they gave you responsibility for this program as a woman, as a woman, I would like each of you to give me an idea if they would give you responsibility for this program how would you buy? Because you already know that it’s local food they give the children. How would you take responsibility, what would you make them buy for the program?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Now, would put…
Socio-Dig: Number 5.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): OK. What I would do…. the entire neighborhood is going to know everything that is happening. In the neighborhood, when someone has plantains, or yams, now that person is going to market, and for me, I would buy it. I would buy everything that that those women have who are going to sell. And Mme Fred, Florans, Mme Franck. Yes, like it was a market or Mme Franck could be responsible for buying from everyone who comes there. They wouldn’t need to carry their loads to the market. They would not need to go down to Ti Rivye anymore. Now, we know that then someone had plantains it would be something that’s already right here in the neighborhood. The person would know that Sunday … she could leave church go and make a chicken meal …
[20 Minutes]
Now, he is going to know because it must be something that’s already in the neighborhood, for everyone knows that we’re going to have these plantains, or these yams, or these breadfruit, that they don’t have to go to the market with them. They’ll know that Mrs. Tony’s house has a market where they will buy from them, that will buy everything that the women have from the people who are marketers, who have produce that they are going to sell, food that they have that they are going to sell in the market, that they don’t need go to 6th section with it. Now, they’ll get money because I will buy from them, I will buy that merchandise and you know that it’s local food, that’s for the school because it’s local food they give the schools now. I would buy all the food in the neighborhood, and that food they no longer need to go to the 6th section with it.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Since I don’t know. Since it depends on the quantity of food, because people in the neighborhood might have the food, but I don’t know, could the people who come to buy, will they be able to buy all the food that’s there, that we sell? You understand? Because we don’t know, could the people who buy, could they buy that quantity of food? All those people are going to carry food because they know that it’ me who is going to buy or it’s Mrs. Alfred who is buying, they must know that Mrs. Alfred is buying all the food in the neighborhood.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): If the responsibility was Mrs. Franck’s, will Mrs. Franck have the money to buy the quantity of food that they will have to sell?
Socio-Dig: OK. Do you think that the food you would buy here in the neighborhood would be a better deal than what you would buy in the market at Miso?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): No, they will not give you a better deal.
Socio-Dig: It would not be a better deal? It would be more expensive?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Yes.
Socio-Dig: Well then, better you buy in the market?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): The people already know for how much they’re going to sell plantains in the market. She already knows the price.
Socio-Dig: But here’s something too, she won’t have to pay transport.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Yes, she doesn’t pay transport.
Socio-Dig: She doesn’t pay transport, she doesn’t have to go through all the trouble.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): The only thing, if she had to pay 3 dola, I would say she can give me 25 dola, like if she did not have a pack animal to carry the produce and it was on her head that she carried it. I could be easy, she could give her 25 dola that I put as the smallest amount. If they were going to sell at 50 dola or 60 dola, and she had to pay 50 goud for transport, she could give it to us for 40 dola. She could give Malanga or Yams, depending on the quality of yam. If they were yam that were going to sell for 80 dola, she would get 60 dola for it, because carrying it… Since our neighborhood doesn’t go down to the ‘Cemetery’ any longer, it’s only one market that we have, Miso. Yes, because the person must look to see if she has a pack animal. [Horn honks]. If you give me a price that’s not good, if the price is no good, I’m going to saddle my animal and go sell the produce at the market. I’m not going to sell to her any more, they aren’t going to sell to me. Now, I’m going to load my animal, she doesn’t give me a good price for the plantains, for malanga, or for the yams. Now she has her animal right there, as soon as she sees I’m not going to give her a good price, she’s going to put the produce on the animal and go with it.
Socio-Dig: OK. Thanks.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Because even breadfruit, the way that people buy it, they could buy it at 30 dola in the 6th section. The seller sees that she’s going to sell it for 40 dola, better she goes to the 6th section.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): She’d rather go to the 6th section, she’d rather carry it.
Socio-Dig: Oh?
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): She’d rather take it to the 6th section.
Socio-Dig: Even if she would have to pay transport for it?
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): She won’t be paying transport for it if she has a pack animal, she won’t pay transport, because you know, there is no road for vehicles to reach the market.
Socio-Dig: And you, what would you say?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): No, because what I have to say the lady has already said.
Socio-Dig: There is a system. I don’t know if they’ve made it around here. For example, you can have a produce in your garden. For example, let’s say yams. You could have yams in your garden and someone comes to buy all of them. They do that around here?
Public: No. Above in Miso they do that. It’s in Miso that they do that. You’ll see that they do that with yellow yams. In Miso they sell the whole garden. But here, we don’t do that.
Socio-Dig: They sell gardens?
Public: If they have a garden of cabbage, that’s how they sell it wholesale. They have traders up there that do that. But down here, we do not…
Socio-Dig: You don’t do that?
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): No.
Socio-Dig: For the program to work well, another way they could come, they could come and buy the whole garden. Wouldn’t that be more in the advantage of the program, or would it be better to buy the way they are doing now?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): No, they would not sell, they would not sell the whole garden.
Socio-Dig: They don’t sell the whole garden around here?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): No, it doesn’t happen often.
Public: … You know, they are not accustomed to doing that around here.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Also, if they plant, they also plant other things in the garden.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): It’s not easy for them to sell it like they do in Misot. It’s a mixed garden here. If someone makes a garden of yellow yams, he makes a garden of yellow yams. He sells that garden, after they dug up the yams, they plant something else in it, they immediately plant something else. If it’s a cabbage garden, the person plants only that. He puts in cabbage and a lot of it.
[25 Minutes]
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Around here, like if it’s yams that the person plants, he doesn’t put a lot of yams.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): And the person could have only one garden.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): You understand? People don’t make a garden of just yams. In the 6th section, they’re on the yams, they give them fertilizer. It’s not the same as here. Do you understand what I’m saying?
Socio-Dig: I understand what you’re saying.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): They are not the same way. That means that a person here, he plants yam, he plants a little malanga too, he has a little of something else, he has plantains in the garden. You get it? That means he can’t sell it just like that.
Socio-Dig: OK. I get it. Since we’re all in a little bit of a hurry, let me ask a couple of questions about the canteen program. You know there are several schools around here in the program? Do you know how they operate? If it was you who was managing the program, would you leave it like it is or would you change something about it?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Well, me, for me…
Socio-Dig: Number 6.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): For me, it’s not bad. It’s good for the children. They make food, they give them nutrition, that’s good. They do not spice the food with bouillon cubes. They give them vegetables every time. They have different foods that they give them and with juice, food that doesn’t go through a lot of shipment and storage, that doesn’t have chemicals in it. It’s good for the children. Me, I don’t see that there is anything wrong with it. It’s very good.
Socio-Dig: It’s very good. OK.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): The canteen that is in the school, it’s very good for the children because it’s natural food, they give natural food. …
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): But one thing, the people in the kitchen, it’s a problem for the teachers. There are times when the children don’t have 5 goud, there are those who don’t have 5 goud. There are those too who might have 5 goud, but they buy candy with it, they don’t understand. There are some too who don’t have 5 goud to pay for food. But the people in the kitchen, those people don’t earn any money. You understand? They don’t get paid. They don’t get paid for that. It’s a problem.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): There are days, anytime you might go there, you see that people might not show up to make food. It could be market day, ‘I’m going to see what I can make in the market.’ But if you had a little money that you were making, they would know that that they had a responsibility, they must be there.
Socio-Dig: OK. Since the cooks do not earn a salary, let’s say they have another choice. Now what do you think is going to happen…. What do you think if the program could give another person who’s not inside, for example a person who could make food in the school. For example, there are vendors around here who could make food, make fried dough or something like that. They could give a vendor the responsibility of making food and taking it to the school for the children. What do you think of that?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Well, we don’t know.
Socio-Dig: No, it’s what do you think? What do you think?
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Where will you find the food? We’re talking about giving them the same food?
Socio-Dig: Yes, yes.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): People would make it at their house?
Socio-Dig: For example, let’s say that… Let’s offer several options. They give people food to make food and carry it to the school or they give people some money, the person is responsible for making food and bringing it.
Public: That’s nothing. It would not be good. Bringing it isn’t good.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): There are those who would make food and benefit, there are those who would eat the food (laughs).
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): There are those who cheat because they don’t get paid. Now if you go and give them the food to make at the house, even when they made money it wouldn’t be good, they would make a mess.
Socio-Dig: There would be a mess?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Yes, there would be a mess.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): That means, while some people would not get paid, him, like the Teacher Alfred who oversees the school, even though he wasn’t making any money, he would have to keep an eye on the person. The person doesn’t get paid, myself I would not be responsible for making food. You understand? I’m not responsible for making it. But while the person isn’t making money, they’ll want to make a mess with the food. But when they know that someone higher up is keeping an eye on them, they won’t do just anything they want with the food.
Socio-Dig: And if it’s a person who is paid?
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): If the person gets paid… …
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): I don’t know, I don’t know about people getting paid because…
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): If it’s someone who gets paid and she did not do the job well, they would fire her and put someone else in her place.
Socio-Dig: OK. If you added that you had children, that you had children in the program, you have children. What food would you add that they don’t have?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): The food that I would add?
Socio-Dig: Yes.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Corn meal, we don’t have corn meal.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Millet, some plantains.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Millet, dumplings, like when they make stew, they could give some wheat dumplings, corn meal, cracked wheat. Cracked wheat is a food that’s very good for children. A long time ago they used to have a canteen that gave cracked wheat. We had a priest named Father Machand who used to come up here. It was a flour called “Bèdèkfòw”. It was a cracked wheat that they gave at the canteen. Cracked wheat is important and the flour too. Flour “Bèdèkfòy”, since we don’t see it anymore, now it would be very important. When they make stew with bean sauce you could make dumplings with “Bèdèkfòy” and put it in the stew you give the children.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): That’s what makes the children not like stew, because of the flour, it doesn’t have dumplings in it.
Socio-Dig: It doesn’t have flour in it?
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Because there’s no money. You must buy 2 or 3 mamit of flour…
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Me, what I would add.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): But because here is no money…
[30 Minutes]
You don’t make it. It’s just the little bit they send us, that what you make for the children.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Me, what I would add to the food is cracked wheat flour.
Socio-Dig: Cracked wheat flour?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Yes, because cracked wheat is important.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Corn meal too.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Corn meal too.
Socio-Dig: OK. Now if you would imagine that, for them to give all the children the food they eat, that costs money. Even if… It costs a lot, it’s expensive, it costs money. How do you think that the program can continue, by what means? If today they said, OK, things are too expensive, we can’t continue to pay, we must go. But you, you would like the program to continue. What? What food? How could they buy food to supply the program in a way that costs less money than it costs now?
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): We would not make cooked food.
Socio-Dig: Anything you say to me, I’m looking for options. What do you think would cost less money?
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): I would give children peanut butter and cassava, and a glass of milk and a banana. That would hold the children.
Socio-Dig: OK, you don’t have anything else to say? What do you think would cost less money to make for the children?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Well you know, if you make food it’s going to cost money. No matter what food you make, it costs money. So, I don’t know what I can say. At least they could give the children some bread and peanut butter and some juice in the morning. Local juice, natural juice.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): They said they would give some milk every Thursday. But they never made that, not one day.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): And as for something sweet, there are parents who make something and give it to children in the morning. But in the same way, there are parents who send their children to school without feeding them anything. You understand what I’m saying?
Socio-Dig: I understand what you’re saying.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Those parents might not have anything to give the children in the morning. She washes the child, puts on her uniform, and sends her to school, says, ‘when you get home, I’ll have something to feed you.’ At the same time, there are parents who make a lunch box for their children to take to school. All parents don’t have the same resources. Well, when a child eats something sweet at school, it’s not good for him. You understand?
Socio-Dig: Uh huh.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): It’s not good for him. A child needs to eat something salty. Even though they might not eat much, it helps with the worms in his chest.
Socio-Dig: OK, for example, something salty that does not cost much money, what could that be?
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Despite, you could make some white cracked wheat for the children, you understand, make some white wheat or some white corn meal, some good corn….
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Corn meal with greens.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Corn meal with green, you understand. You understand, you could make a corn meal with greens in the morning for the children. But, like for you to give juice, and bread and peanut butter. Because there is something called worms and not all parents have the same resources to give their children something in the morning.
Socio-Dig: OK, I see that you ladies are ready to go. You have an emergency. You don’t have anything you would like to add? You don’t have any questions you would like to ask me?
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): (laughs). We must ask you one question.
Socio-Dig: You may ask, yes.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Yes, really Mrs. Franck said that you asked if there was not something less expensive. But there is nothing less expensive to give children. Something sweet is not good for them, it’s not good.
Public: To encourage the children in the morning, you could give them some cassava with peanut butter. Yes, the cassava must have peanut butter on it. A piece of bread with peanut butter and something to drink afterward. It would be salty, and after that there is nothing sweet to give.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): Cassava is good for the children’s memory.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): Yes, cassava is always good.
Socio-Dig: They don’t make cassava around here?
Public: No, no, we don’t make it.
#3 (Female; 47 years-old; 3 children; 6th Grade; Trader): You know, manioc crops are almost wiped out. But we can buy it in Miragoane. They have a lot in Miragoane.
Socio-Dig: OK.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): You can find a lot in Miragoane, but enough to feed all the children in every school, that would be difficult.
Socio-Dig: It would be difficult?
Public: Yes, La Gonav, you know, they bring a lot, they come from La Gonav with it.
Socio-Dig: OK, well, if you don’t have any more questions for me, I say thank you very much.
Public: Thank you, thank you very much too.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): I say thank you and have a good day.
#5 (Female; 60 years-old; 5 children; None; Trader): Do you have any idea that for us…. Because you asked us questions and we responded… you said… You said, if it was us who were doing the buying. Do you have any idea who is going to do that, who is going to come open a market?
Socio-Dig: It’s possible, they’re considering it. For the moment, what they’re looking at is that the program costs too much money, it costs too much money. Imagine, it’s not in just one place that they have the program. They would like it to cover the whole country. At the moment it’s just in Nippes. That means they’re looking for other ways… That’s why I’m talking to the merchants. Because you’re merchants, you understand these things, how the program could….
[35 Minutes]
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): So, they could lower the price.
Socio-Dig: For them to lower the price. Is there a way to do it? That’s what we’re trying to understand.
#6 (Female; 40 years-old; 6 children; None; Trader): We are looking but we don’t yet see…
Socio-Dig: They don’t yet have an example. And they need to know too what each region has to offer. What do they have in the area that they could buy. Or should they buy in the market. Because, you know, the market is expensive. You must pay a driver, isn’t that so. You must pay a driver for transport, you must pay for gasoline, and you must pay people to buy.
Public: OK. Thank you ladies. Have a good day.
Socio-Dig: OK. Thank you. …
Socio-Dig: Thank you very much. [Truck blows its horn]
[36 Minutes]
[1] Name of a government branch under the Martelly administration
[2] Group of workers
[3] Kreyol introduction to storytelling or fables.
[4] Fables
[5] Name for greedy people
[6] Haitian dollar
[7] Small convenience store
[8] “Twa Oktob,” 3rd of October, the date of Hurricane Mathew hitin 2016 and a reminder of what the elderly referred to as Douz Oktob, 12th of October, when Hurricane Hazel hit in 1954.
[9] 1 mammit = 5.75 lbs of rice or 5.5 lbs of beans
